Man faces 20 years in prison for death of Ohio State student

Watch a previous report on the eyewitness identifications in this case in the video player above.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Nearly three years after an Ohio State University student was killed outside an unsanctioned fraternity party, a man has been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for his death.

Kintie Mitchell, 21, was sentenced to 15 to 20.5 years in prison Wednesday for the death of 23-year-old Chase Meola in October 2020. He accepted a plea deal Friday, reducing a murder charge to involuntary manslaughter and accepting a weapons violation charge, both felonies. His sentencing includes unrelated burglary charges he also pleaded guilty to on Friday.

Mitchell has been in Franklin County Jail since shortly after Meola, then a fifth-year marketing student at Ohio State, died after being shot outside the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house near campus. Meola was a member of fraternity before it lost its student organization status.

The then-18-year-old Mitchell was arrested about an hour after Meola was shot on Oct. 11, 2020, following an eyewitness identification of him. Mitchell's attorneys had tried getting the eyewitness identification and a photo identification thrown out on the grounds that Columbus police did not follow policy when conducting the identifications. As recently as June, the judge in the case had ruled that the identifications could be used at trial.

In 2018, Phi Kappa Psi was suspended for hazing and other student conduct violations. The fraternity lost its university recognition after failing to refile for student organization status, an Ohio State spokesperson previously told NBC4.

After Meola's death, his family sued the university, the local fraternity chapter and the national Phi Kappa Psi organization, arguing that the entities put Meola's life in danger by allowing the suspended fraternity to operate. A judge dismissed the wrongful death suit against the university in March, ruling that Ohio State was not responsible to prevent the off-campus shooting, nor was it responsible for events at an unrecognized fraternity. The lawsuit against the fraternity is ongoing in federal court.