The case against seven former Southern University marching band members arrested last fall for hazing has netted the first of an expected series of no-contest pleas.

Lagarian Bridgewater, 22, of Baton Rouge, pleaded no contest on July 2 to criminal conspiracy to commit second-degree battery and misdemeanor hazing, East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore said Tuesday.

State District Judge Chip Moore will sentence Bridgewater on Sept. 22. Bridgewater is expected to be put on probation, the district attorney said.

Between now and his sentencing, Bridgewater will be allowed to fulfill some of the special conditions of his probation, including performing 100 hours of community service, and writing a 500-word essay on the dangers of hazing and a 500-word report on someone who has died as a result of hazing, Hillar Moore III said. Bridgewater’s six co-defendants also are expected to plead no contest and be placed on probation, Moore said.

A no-contest plea has the same effect as a guilty plea in criminal court but cannot be used as an admission of guilt in civil court.

Bridgewater’s attorney, Ron Johnson, could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but when the District Attorney’s Office charged the seven former band members in May, Johnson called the plea worked out between prosecutors and defense lawyers a “reasonable solution.’’

The hazing incident was part of a Nov. 25 initiation into the marching band’s unofficial French horn fraternity, “Mellow Phi Fellow,’’ before the Bayou Classic football game, according to arrest records.

Two victims were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, but eventually were released. A third victim, who was not hospitalized, withdrew from the initiation after being struck more than 50 times by a 2-by-4-inch board, the arrest records show.

All seven defendants are charged with criminal conspiracy to commit second-degree battery and misdemeanor hazing.

The other defendants are Clifton Taylor, 20, of Baker; Harvey Harrison, 20, of Atlanta; Carlo-Andres Carter, 20, of Stone Mountain, Ga.; Joseph Webb, 21, of Columbus, Ga.; Jeremy Dixon, 23, of Natchez, Miss.; and Aubrey Harris Jr., 20, of Canton, Miss.

Southern spokesman Ed Pratt has said the marching band and fraternities and sororities continue to attend anti-hazing workshops, just as before the hazing incident.

Band members will again have to sign a formal anti-hazing pledge in the fall for the new academic year, he added.