Hays ? A man has been sentenced to one month in jail and one year of probation for playing a role in instigating a series of fights that led to the death of a Fort Hays State University student.

The sentence was ordered Thursday after an Ellis County jury convicted Jason Penka of misdemeanor battery.

Penka, who was accused of putting two people in a headlock, was initially charged with two counts of battery. One of the battery charges was dropped.

Penka was 28 in November 2003 when the brawl started in the parking lot of an apartment complex north of campus. Clint Johnson, 18, of Healy, died two days later from injuries suffered in the fight.

Penka was given two weeks to report to the Ellis County Jail, where he will be required to serve four days of his 30-day jail sentence.

Probation will follow, during which time Penka was ordered to enter an alcohol evaluation program. Estimates indicated Penka drank as many as 30 beers on the night of the brawl.

District Judge Ed Bouker declined to impose the maximum sentence allowed because no direct injuries resulted from Penka’s role in the fight. He also rejected the recommendation of Penka’s attorney, who requested the same sentence that another participant received: six months’ unsupervised probation and a $150 fine.

In denying the lighter sentence, Bouker said Penka was older than many of the participants in the fight. He also noted a racial element to the fight. One of the two men Penka was accused of putting in a headlock said an advancing crowd was hurling racial slurs at the second man, who is Hispanic.