Trial starts for 4 FAMU band members charged in drum major's hazing death on bus

FILE- In this May 23, 2012 file photo, Pam Champion, right, and Robert Champion, Sr., left, hold a photo of their son, Robert, a Florida A&M University drum major who died in a hazing incident, as they are photographed in their attorney's office following a press conference in Atlanta. The trial for four band members charged in the hazing death of Champion begins Monday, Oct. 27, 2014 in Orlando, Fla.(AP Photo/David Goldman, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE- This 2010 photo provided by the Champion family shows Robert Champion, the Florida A&M University drum major who died in a Nov. 19 , 2011 hazing incident. The trial for four band members charged in the hazing death of Champion begins Monday, Oct. 27, 2014 in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Champion Family) (The Associated Press)

The trial of four members of Florida A&M University's marching band on charges of felony hazing and manslaughter is scheduled to start Monday, nearly three years after drum major Robert Champion died from being beaten.

His death has shone a spotlight on a hazing ritual at FAMU known as "crossing Bus C," and caused the band — which had played at the Super Bowl and before U.S. presidents — to be suspended for over a year. It also contributed to the resignation of the university's president.

Fifteen former band members originally were charged with manslaughter and hazing in the death of Champion, of Decatur, Georgia. All but the four remaining defendants had their cases settled, and several of them will be called as witnesses.