College sophomore Thomas Bispham and College freshman David Hochfelder, two of the five Penn students accused of assaulting a Princeton debate team member in November, both officially entered an eighteen-month probationary program at a municipal court hearing at the Criminal Justice Center this morning.
The program, Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition, will include anger management and alcohol counseling, according to James DeLeon, supervising judge of the criminal division of the municipal court, and District Attorney Richard Boyd.
Hochfelder and Bispham will also be required to each pay a total of $1,000 towards the city's Victim's Compensation Fund and Domestic Violence Fund, DeLeon and Boyd said. In addition, they must each pay a sum of $250 in restitution, half of which will be given to the victim, Princeton student John Brantl.
If thee students pay the required amount and successfully complete the ARD program, their criminal records will be expunged, DeLeon said.
Bispham and Hochfelder, along with College freshman Philip Balderston, Wharton sophomore Tavraj Banga and College senior Steven Stolk, were originally accused of assaulting Princeton student John Brantl in a Quadrangle lounge by pouring motor oil on him and threatening to light him on fire. The five students initially faced a range of felony and misdemeanor charges, including aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person's life. Balderston, Banga, and Stolk had all charges against them dropped, and Balderston and Hochfelder had criminal charges against them dropped, at a hearing last month.
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