(March 13, 2015) Caleb Ochse and Christopher Kendall will be serving 18 and 12 months, respectively, in connection with the August death of Justin Cancelliere.
Ochse and Kendall were sentenced at a hearing Thursday morning, following an early January plea deal that saw the duo plead guilty to affray (public fighting) in lieu of standing trial for assault and manslaughter charges.
The terms of the agreement capped the maximum sentence that Worcester County State’s Attorney Beau Oglesby could seek.
On Thursday, both Ochse and Kendall received the maximum sentences under the plea bargain. Kendall received three years’ imprisonment with all but one year suspended, while Ochse received six years with all but 18 months suspended.
Ochse will receive credit for the eight months he has served since his arrest on Aug. 26. Kendall was released on his own recognizance after the incident and has not yet been incarcerated.
Ochse and Kendall stood accused in a fight that occurred in downtown Ocean City, in the early hours of Aug. 24.
Surveillance footage shows Ochse and Kendall leaving Fat Daddy’s sub and pizza shop around 3 a.m., closely followed by Cancelliere and his companions. Video shows both parties looking furtively at each other while in the restaurant.
A fight occurred, after which Ochse and Kendall left, and Cancelliere’s companions called a cab to return to their rooms at the Plim Plaza.
Cancelliere was later found unresponsive between two parked cars in the Plim Plaza parking lot and was pronounced dead later that morning.
Ochse’s grandfather, Bill Ochse, is the founder of the Kite Loft. The Ochse family vigorously and publicly defended their grandson, maintaining that he was not the aggressor and that he and Kendall had reacted in defense after Cancelliere’s party started the street fight.
However, another witness maintained that Ochse and Kendall were seen on top of Cancelliere, beating him while he lay motionless.
