By MATT CHITTUM
ROANOKE TIMES

Three freshmen and three seniors want a federal judge to halt honor court proceedings against them.

Six Virginia Military Institute cadets on trial by the school's honor court for lying about alleged hazing activities filed motions in federal court Friday to stop the proceedings against them.

Three freshmen and their senior mentors, or "dykes," filed separate motions in U.S. District Court in Roanoke decrying the unconstitutionality of the "midnight inquisitions" they endured. One of the students' lawyers compared the investigation to tactics in "South American regimes."

The motions for the freshmen call the VMI disciplinary system confusing and "unconstitutionally vague."

The cadets' honor court trials are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, but federal Judge James Turk is set to hear arguments in the case Monday at 3:30 p.m.

The charges against the cadets stemmed from allegations that the seniors were operating a "whacking system" in their room. Under the system, the freshmen "rats" assigned to the room received licks with a belt for certain posted offenses, such as spilling liquids in the room or making bad grades.

VMI officials, who have not acknowledged any of the details of the honor court proceeding, citing confidentiality, declined to comment Friday.

The motions filed Friday allege the cadets were all hauled from their beds on Feb. 16 at about 1 a.m. by investigators from the cadet Officer of the Guard Association and compelled to sign an "Investigation Introduction" form that informed them of their right not to incriminate themselves, but told them that remaining silent would be considered interfering with an investigation and would result in the "severest" penalty.

"This is what happens in South American regimes and police states," said Bernhardt Wruble, a Washington, D.C., lawyer representing the freshmen. "It's probably unconstitutional, but it's worse than that. It's really so foreign to any standard of decency and behavior in our culture, I don't know why VMI would tolerate it."

The students involved are seniors Phantamith Prompol and Donald J. Evans of Alexandria and Jason Rodriques of North Dartmouth, Mass.; and freshmen Brandon Michael Crane of Evansville, Ind., Arnold Jesse Gore of Chesterfield and Terence Milton Redmond of Hockessin, Del.

Harry Kostel, a Clifton Forge lawyer representing Prompol, calls the tactic "egregious conduct, grossly violative of fundamental fairness" in his motion. All three seniors lean heavily on a claim of due process violations in their arguments.

The cadets were also warned by the Officer of the Guard Association not to speak to anyone else about the investigations, which the seniors say is essentially a denial of counsel, according to court records.

Because the association was investigating hazing, and any finding of it would have to be prosecuted in a state court, it was essentially a police authority and OGA should have read the cadets their "Miranda" rights to remain silent, the motions said.

Instead, the cadets were coerced into making statements under "extreme duress," the motions allege. They went to the school counselor about their concerns, and he said he believed if their statements were coerced, they could change them without violating the honor code.

Instead, the suits allege, the cadets were referred to Commandant James Joyner who failed to advise them of any of their rights, told them not to discuss the investigation with anyone, allowed them to change their statements and then used the changes to have them arrested for violating the honor code.

Only then were they advised of rights, according to court records.

Furthermore, the honor court chair attended some of the interrogations, the suits allege, thereby tainting him as a judge in the case. He has since been removed as judge.

The motions filed for the freshmen focus more on the mentoring system at VMI, saying it set them up for confusion over where to put their allegiances.

In VMI's "ratline," the motions say, their mentors are charged with teaching them the rules of VMI, written and unwritten.

So, when the freshmen were compelled to tell if they were struck by their mentors with belts, they were caught between the mentoring system and the honor system, which demands that "a cadet does not lie, cheat or steal, nor tolerate those who do."

The freshmen are being punished for getting the wrong lesson from the people VMI charged with teaching them, Wruble said.

The attorneys for all six of the cadets made the same arguments in a joint motion to the honor court, but it was overruled by the chairman.

Investigations must be conducted in the middle of the night for privacy reasons, the chairman ruled, and all cadets know that they are expected to be forthcoming when questioned.

"It is well-known and assumed that the Honor Code supersedes devotion to dykes and friends," the chairman wrote, "and once one of these alliances becomes paramount to the honor system, then the system dies."