ORLANDO, Fla. — A young musician who has been described by prosecutors as the “most enthusiastic” hazing participant in a Florida A&M University drum major’s beating death was sentenced Friday to a year in jail and five years’ probation for manslaughter.

Jessie Baskin, 22, pleaded no contest to manslaughter in November. He is one of several FAMU band members who have pleaded to charges in connection with the hazing death of Robert Champion.

The 26-year-old drum major was bludgeoned to death Nov. 19, 2011, during a hazing ritual known as “Crossing Bus C,” in which he ran from the front to the back of the percussion bus while being beaten.

State Attorney Jeff Ashton described Baskin as “the one person who is most consistently identified as the most enthusiastic participant” in the hazing landing “blows with hands and feet.”

The ritual was carried out after the 2011 Florida Classic football game on a band bus that was parked at the Rosen Plaza hotel in Orlando, where the band was staying during the Classic weekend. Champion’s death rocked FAMU and the university’s Marching 100 band.

Five other former band members, including Dante Martin, who was regarded as the “Bus C president,” are awaiting trial.

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