Twelve former Florida A&M University band members are now facing more severe charges for the 2011 death of drum major Robert Champion, after Florida prosecutors on Monday filed manslaughter counts against them.

Last May, ten of the ex-band members were charged with hazing, a third-degree felony, for Champion’s death during a hazing ritual on a bus after the band performed at a football game between Florida A&M and archrival Bethune-Cookman University. 

But on Monday, the Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office sent an email to the defendants’ attorneys notifying them that their clients will face second-degree manslaughter charges in addition to the hazing charges.

Two more former band members were also charged on Monday.

The manslaughter carries with it a maximum sentence of 15-years imprisonment under Florida law, while the maximum sentence for hazing would have only been 5 years.   

It is not yet known why State Attorney Jeff Ashton upgraded the charges and decided to make a case against two more of the former band members.  Calls for comment by NBC News were not returned.

But at least one defense attorney representing a former FAMU band member said he was not surprised to be notified of the more serious charges.

Bill Sharpe, who represents 25-year-old defendant Rikki Wills, called the move “a scare tactic” to encourage a plea bargain.

“It is not uncommon for them [Florida prosecutors] to do that in a high profile case,” said Sharpe.

The attorney said his client, who was Champion’s roommate, still plans to go to trial to prove his innocence.

Champion’s parents had said they were disappointed last May when then-state attorney Lawson Lamar decided to charge those involved only with felony hazing.

On Monday, the couple cheered the more severe penalty instituted by Ashton, who was sworn in as the Orange-Osceola state attorney earlier this year.

"This is what we've been saying all along and, finally, someone has the courage to hold these folks accountable,” Christopher Chestnut, an attorney representing Champion’s parents, told the Orlando Sentinel. 

He said the felony hazing charge was simply “a slap on the wrist and basically an endorsement to continue the practice."

Champion died from internal bleeding after receiving a beating that shed light on the famed bands culture of hazing.

In November 2011 he agreed to participate in the ritual called “crossing bus C,” in which he entered a dark bus and was kicked and punched while trying to make his way to the back.

After he pushed his way through the beat-down and made it to the end of the bus, Champion complained of feeling sick. Shortly afterwards he collapsed and died “hemorrhagic shock caused by blunt-force trauma,” according to his autopsy.

His death led to the suspension of the band, the retirement of its longtime director and the resignation of FAMU president James Ammons.

A pretrial conference has been scheduled for early August.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Three Florida A&M University marching band members, all men, appeared before a judge Tuesday to face hazing charges in the beating of a woman band mate police said was hit so hard with fists and a metal ruler that she broke her thigh and had blood clots in her legs.

The arrests marked the first details from authorities about the secret rituals this fall among the famed Marching 100 band. Police said Bria Shante Hunter, who played clarinet, was beaten about three weeks before drum major Robert Champion died during what was believed to be hazing on a band bus.

Investigators have not said exactly what happened to Champion, who was also a clarinet player, and like Hunter, from Georgia. Champion's death set off several investigations of the marching band and school administrators who appear to have long known about the hazing tradition.

AP

James Harris

Hunter, in an interview with Orlando station WFTV-TV, was asked why band members take part in hazing.

"So we can be accepted," she said. "If you don't do anything, then, it's like you're lame."

Tallahassee police said the three men arrested were involved in hazing Hunter at an off-campus apartment because she tried to get out of a meeting and couldn't recite information about their clique of Georgia natives, known as the "Red Dawg Order."

AP

Sean Hobson

Authorities said James Harris, 22, helped plan the hazing at his apartment and at one point, he stopped the other two men from hitting Hunter further. He has been charged with hazing and his bond was set at $2,500.

Harris' attorney, Eric Abrahamsen, insisted there was no evidence his client took part in the hazing and that he would fight the charges.

AP

Aaron Golson

Sean Hobson, 23, and 19-year-old Aaron Golson, were charged with hazing and battery, and their bail was set at $10,000. An attorney for Golson said he would also plead not guilty. Golson was released from jail and ducked into a car driven by his mother. He refused to answer any questions.

• Background story: Police charge 3 in Florida A&M band with hazing

Hobson did not yet have an attorney.

Authorities said Hunter was targeted Oct. 31 by other members of the "Red Dawg Order" because she tried to get out of going to a group meeting. She was repeatedly punched on the tops of her thighs by Golson and Hobson, witnesses told police.

The following day, police said, Hunter was beaten with a metal ruler when she could not recite information about the "Red Dawg Order" properly.

Police said Hobson sent Hunter a text message Nov. 5 to say he was sorry.

"I apologize for the hurt I put you through. I apologize for the mental and physical strain you have endured," Hobson said in the message, according to police.

When authorities interviewed him, Hobson acknowledged he was a member of the "Red Dawg Order" but denied harming Hunter or sending her a text message.

Code of silence
Attorney Craig Brown, who is representing Golson, told the judge he was a good student and should be released without bond because he was cooperating with police. Leon County Judge Ronald Flurry, however, required Golson to post a bond. The judge said if the charges were true, they were "egregious."

After the hearing, Brown said there was a "difference in the stories" of what actually took place.

Ricky Jones, director of the Center on Race and Inequality at the University of Louisville and an expert on hazing, said he had not heard of a case where a female had been beaten by males.

"This doesn't mean it's a first," he said. Since the band and its various groups admit men and women, mixed gender hazing might not be uncommon, Jones said.

Champion's death exposed a hazing tradition that has long haunted the university. Former clarinet player Ivery Luckey was hospitalized after he said he was paddled around 300 times in 1998. Luckey told Tallahassee police that it was mostly girls who hit him in an initiation to become part of "The Clones."

Three years later, band member Marcus Parker suffered kidney damage because of a paddle beating.

After Champion died, the university indefinitely suspended performances by the famed Marching 100. School president James Ammons has vowed to break what he calls a "code of silence" on the hazing rituals.

Last week, the board of trustees reprimanded Ammons over his job performance, including how the university has dealt with hazing. The panel that oversees the state university system has also called for a probe into whether school officials ignored past warnings about hazing.

"The board of trustees and president Ammons hope that through these arrests all involved in perpetuating this culture will really begin to view hazing as a serious matter," said university spokeswoman Sharon Saunders.

The school fired band director Julian White, who contends he tried to report problems with hazing to his superiors. He was reinstated and placed on administrative leave because the Florida Department of Law Enforcement asked the university to halt all disciplinary actions until the investigation is finished. Four students connected to Champion's death were expelled, but then also reinstated.

Saunders said she had no knowledge of any other specific hazing cases currently under investigation. 

 The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Police have arrested three Florida A&M band members in the beating of a woman during hazing rituals that became so severe that her thigh was broken.

Tallahassee police said Monday that on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 the three struck band member Bria Shante Hunter's legs with their fists and with a metal ruler to initiate her into the "Red Dawg Order." It's a band clique for students who come from Georgia.

Hunter told police that days later the pain became so unbearable that she went to the hospital. Her thigh bone was broken and she had blood clots in her legs.

Hunter's beatings came about three weeks before FAMU drum major Robert Champion was killed during a band trip to Orlando. Police say hazing was involved.

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The longtime band director at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee was fired on Wednesday after the suspected hazing death of a drum major.

University president James Ammons sent band director Julian White a termination letter, citing White's inability to stop the suspected hazing in the band and music department.

"We are serious, this has to stop," Ammons told the Orlando Sentinel. "The highest priority we have as a university is protecting the health, safety and well-being of our students."

Officials say 26-year-old Robert Champion was found unresponsive on a bus parked outside an Orlando hotel on Saturday night after the school's football team lost to rival Bethune-Cookman. Champion was vomiting and had complained he couldn't breathe before he collapsed.

A telephone message left at White's home by the Associated Press wasn't immediately returned. White has been placed on paid administrative leave and has 10 days to respond to his firing.

The exact cause and manner of Champion's death are pending the autopsy results, said Sheri Blanton, a forensic coordinator for the medical examiner. There is no timetable for getting the results back, but most cases take 10 to 12 weeks, she said.

FAMU officials acknowledged that 30 students have been kicked off the band this semester due to hazing incidents. There are currently three investigations.

On Tuesday, officials at the Tallahassee school suspended the famed Marching 100 band and any other ensemble that performs under the supervision of the FAMU music department. The move affects more than 400 students.