Two UGA students agree to probation; case against GSC student pending

ATHENS - Two University of Georgia students who were partying with a classmate the night he died of an overdose have avoided a trial on underage drinking charges - and charges against a Gainesville State College student are still pending.

In a pretrial agreement signed Monday, State Court Judge Kent Lawrence ordered Mark Olsen, 19, and Jordan Redella, 20, to serve six months of probation that includes 30 hours of community service and an alcohol education program at UGA.

The three remaining defendants, Michael Crocker, 20, Grayson Gordon, 19, and Gainesville State College student William Cowan, 20, have court hearings scheduled for next week.

The young men lived at a house that was one of several places freshman Lewis Fish visited the night he died from an overdose of drugs and alcohol.

If Olsen and Redella meet all the conditions in the pretrial agreement, their charges will be dropped, Solicitor General Morris Wiltshire said.

In the aftermath of Fish's death, seven men were arrested and the school has had to face tough questions about its alcohol policies. In an effort to curb underage drinking, the school decided last month that it will begin suspending repeat offenders for at least a semester and saddle first time-violators with probation for a school year.