A statewide grand jury has determined there is no evidence to support charges in connection with the suicide of a Penn State Altoona student in March 2014.

The grand jury also recommended no charges be filed against Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity for hazing activities citing conflicting testimony and lack of direct evidence. Marquise Braham, 18, a student at the Altoona campus, committed suicide in March 2014 by jumping from a building in Uniondale, N.Y.

The state Attorney General’s Office investigated the matter amid allegations that Braham, prior to his death, had been subjected to hazing while pledging to Phi Sigma Kappa.

While there won’t be criminal charges, the report underscores many issues in the pledging of Phi Sigma Kappa at Penn State Altoona.

The university has banned the fraternity for six years.

“It was not until they (fraternity brothers) were subpoenaed to the Statewide Grand Jury that the truth could be dragged out of them,” the grand jury report states.

The grand jury heard testimony from 11 witnesses, including some of Braham’s fraternity brothers.

“While there is no question that hazing occurred during pledging for the fraternity … that hazing was a fraternitywide problem and not limited to just a few individuals,” the report stated.

The jury could not pinpoint individuals responsible for the hazing.

“Because of unwillingness or inability of the former pledges to name other individual brothers as hazing them, even after being interviewed and testifying before the grand jury, criminal prosecutions will not be undertaken,” the report said.

One brother who testified described the pledging process as absolutely intimidating.

An activity known as “Locked In” was a two-day event that involved pledges alternating between being locked in a small closet in the dark for hours, then being brought down to the basement of a home where they were required to chug 20-25 beers and vomit five times during the night.

Pledging to the fraternity involved four such hazing events from October to December 2013. One pledging event offered points for obtaining a list of things from cleaning supplies to cocaine.

A man who pledged with Braham said Braham had suggested his team avoid buying drugs, the report states.

Another hazing event around a campfire required pledges to engage in open-hand boxing – or slap boxing – and wrestle, resulting in one pledge suffering a concussion.

“I was forced to do it. I had no choice,” one fraternity member testified.

Names of fraternity members were blacked out by the Attorney General’s Office before the report was released.

After pledging himself, Braham became an officer of the fraternity.

Braham’s family, led by his father, Richard Braham, who filed a civil lawsuit Dec. 15 against Penn State and specific fraternity members, has said since Marquise’s suicide that his son’s private messages revealed he felt guilt for seeing pledges go through hazing.

“We f– them a little too much,” were Braham’s written words in a notebook found in his dorm room, the grand jury report states.

But despite the hazing, the grand jury report states two suicide notes “make clear that Braham had been thinking of committing suicide for a very long time and that this was not an impulsive act on March 11, 2014. In fact, he had written in the second note that “In all honesty, I saw this coming since I was a child.”

The grand jury report states: “There is simply no evidence that establishes a link between the fraternity pledging process and fraternity activities and Braham’s death. Rather the evidence points to a young man who, though he had a sunny and very pleasant exterior, had been contemplating suicide for a very long time.”

The civil lawsuit against several defendants including Penn State and two Phi Sigma Kappa officers, filed by Attorney Doug Fierberg, contains information he said the grand jury was not given, he said.

“The grand jury report fails to give justice to the Braham family because it is based on incomplete information,” Fierberg said. “It is clear he was hazed and suffering from that hazing, and no justice has been done. It is clear to us the grand jury was not given information in possession of the family.”

In addition, the family’s spokesperson, Mike Paul, said the grand jury was not given access to mental health experts and friends and family of Marquise, who “know the truth about the cause of his psychological crises and its direct link to the brutal hazing.”

Attorney Gerald Nelson, representing the Altoona Phi Sigma Kappa chapter, could not immediately comment on the grand jury report Tuesday.

University spokeswoman Shari Routch said in a statement Tuesday that while the grand jury found no link between Braham’s suicide and the fraternity’s pledge process, a task force announced last spring continues its university-wide study of the Greek system “to identify strengths, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities.” Its report is due in April.

“Penn State does not condone physical, verbal or emotional abuse of any kind,” Routch said.

In a statement, Attorney General Kathleen Kane said: “As the grand jury makes very clear in its report, it is imperative that we take steps to protect young college students who are experiencing a vulnerable stage in their lives.”

Mirror Staff Writer Russ O’Reilly is at 946-7435. The Associated Press contributed to this story.