Miami Student

Issue date: 10/16/07 Section: Editorials

Eric Frey

The tragedy that befell Miami University with the April 14 death of sophomore Beth Speidel was so sudden and sorrowful that it was hard for anyone to truly comprehend. In the immediate aftermath of her untimely death, the Oxford Police Department (OPD) investigated the circumstances of that fateful night and ended their investigation by charging five Miami sophomores with furnishing alcohol to Speidel on the evening of April 13. One of those five girls recently accepted the terms of a plea agreement and the others are scheduled for pretrial hearings this Thursday at Butler County Area I Court.

The Miami Student editorial board feels these grief-stricken girls have been unfairly targeted by prosecutors because of Speidel's tragic death.

Had she been found simply passed out or extremely intoxicated, she would have been the one charged with underage drinking rather than the friends she happened to be with that night.

It appears as though the OPD and Butler County are looking for a scapegoat in Speidel's death. Yes, furnishing alcohol to Speidel was wrong and illegal. There is no denying that. But the selective enforcement of underage drinking laws in Oxford is especially troubling. If everyone discovered drunk in Oxford on any given weekend was as thoroughly investigated as the Beth Speidel case was, there would be hundreds and hundreds of underage drinking violations issued to Miami students each week. Furthermore, it is telling when the Speidel family is not pursuing the charges in the case.

These girls have already been forced to endure the unbearable loss of a close friend at a young age and nothing constructive is achieved when these girls are charged for contributing to the death of a friend. The news stories and memories of a trial will unfairly haunt these girls for years to come.

Also for these girls, the legal process has been so frustratingly slow-even if this slow pace is the norm for similar court cases-that these girls are finding themselves in the uncomfortable circumstance of remembering their friend's death each and every time they meet with attorneys or go to court.

While it is understandable that the OPD is pursuing these charges to avoid any complaints of wrongdoing, their police work in the immediate wake of Speidel's death deserves probing.

Some of the girls claimed-in a motion to suppress evidence-that they were brought to the police station without being told they were being investigated or being read their Miranda rights.

If these allegations are true, more speculation follows this case. No matter what happens with the outcome of this for all the girls involved, Miami should be lenient in exercising its penalties against the girls-they have more than enough to worry about as it stands.

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