The remaining two criminal cases related to the hazing death of a 21-year-old fraternity pledge at Michigan State University five years ago have been resolved in a way that will give the men involved nonpublic criminal records.

Ethan Cao and Andrew Nguyen were charged with hazing resulting in death after new Pi Alpha Phi member Phat Nguyen, who is not related to Andrew, died in 2021 of alcohol poisoning.

Both Cao and Nguyen's cases were resolved in a non-public manner in Ingham County last week under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, which allows for certain criminal cases for defendants under age 26 to be made inaccessible to the general public so long as the defendant pleads guilty and successfully completes their probation. It allows young offenders to have a second chance with a clean criminal record.

Cao and Nguyen were two of nine people who were charged in connection with Phat Nguyen's death. A third man, Ali Ghazi, also had his case resolved non-publicly through HYTA in 2024.

Charges against Courtney Thang, David Shim, Hannah Lee, Sumin Yoo, Nicholas Phraxayavong and Hoang John Pham were dismissed in East Lansing's 54-B District Court in April 2024 because prosecutors needed more time to provide discovery to defense attorneys, according to MLive.

Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane said his office is currently discussing the cases and will make a determination about reissuing criminal charges "in the very near future."

Dewane said he could not comment on Cao and Nguyen's plea because of their nonpublic status.

The MSU chapter of Pi Alpha Phi was permanently disbanded after Nguyen's death.

Cao appealed his case to the Michigan Court of Appeals and Michigan Supreme Court, arguing the state's hazing law was unconstitutional. The Court of Appeals said the law was constitutional and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Cao, according to the appellate court filing, was considered the “pledge master” of the fraternity.

Nguyen died at a Nov. 19, 2021 “crossover” party held by the Pi Alpha Phi fraternity at Michigan State to mark the transition of new pledges to full fraternity membership, according to a Court of Appeals summary of the case. The pledge class included Nguyen, Joshua Tran, Hyung-Woo Jeon and Julian Garcia.

In a preliminary examination in the case referred to in the appellate filing, Tran said there was “peer pressure” to drink during the party and, while they could have declined to drink, it was expected that they would. The night started with the four drinking five shots apiece, according to the summary; three pledges testified that their memories of the night ended after drinking the shots.

East Lansing police later were called to the scene for an individual who was unconscious and not breathing. Jeon, Tran and Garcia were unconscious; Nguyen was pronounced dead at the scene, the summary said. A postmortem exam found Nguyen had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.386, according to the summary; the other three were hospitalized, including Jeon, who initially had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.427.

The Court of Appeals found that Cao's "leadership role supports a finding that he was responsible for the collective pressure imposed on the victims.”

As to the constitutional challenges, Cao has argued the law violated constitutional protections related to the freedom of association and equal protection. He also challenged the law as being “unconstitutionally vague and overbroad.”

“We join the consensus of other states in upholding the constitutionality of anti-hazing legislation, both facially and as-applied, against challenges based on freedom of association, equal protection, vagueness, and overbreadth,” the appellate panel ruled in October 2025.

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