Did Star Trek's Wesley Crusher Kill A Fellow Starfleet Academy Cadet?

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In the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "The First Duty," Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) is summoned to Starfleet Academy to give a commencement address when he receives some disturbing news. It seems that one of the Starfleet cadets, a young man named Joshua Albert, recently died during a standard flight training exercise. The same training exercise also injured cadet Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton), the son of Picard's chief medical officer. 

Wesley was part of Nova Squadron, a flight team that also included Sito Jaxa (Shannon Fill), who has a connection to Mariner on "Star Trek: Lower Decks," Jean Hajar (Walker Brandt), and the leader of the pack, Nick Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill). The way the accident happened, so the Squadron claimed, was that Josh was nervous about flying, but Nick pressed him to do so anyway. While performing a space flight maneuver called the Yeager Loop, Josh panicked and two of the cadets' ships collided, causing them all to eventually crash. Everyone but Josh was transported to safety at the last minute. 

However, not everything is kosher. Starfleet manages to get a satellite image of the crash — which took place near Saturn's moon Titan — and the cadets' ships were not in the Yeager Loop configuration as they claimed. Someone is lying about something. There are also a few scenes in "The First Duty" of Locarno, Wesley, Sito, and Hajar conspiring and "getting their story straight." Captain Picard opens an investigation of his own into the matter, and finds that the crash wasn't Josh's fault. Indeed, Wesley was indirectly responsible for the accident. Worse yet, Wesley lied to cover up details about the accident. 

So, no, Wesley didn't directly murder anyone, but he did help in getting a friend killed.

Picard finds that the Nova Squadron was not performing a Yeager Loop, but a very dangerous flight maneuver called the Kolvoord Starburst. The maneuver involves opening one's plasma vents and burning the plasma in space, causing a spectacular starburst pattern in the sky. The problem is that the plasma tends to burn back into the ship, causing it to explode. The Kolvoord Starburst had been banned a century earlier, as the last attempt killed all five pilots required to perform it. Picard confronts Wesley about the Starburst, and is very disappointed. Picard says that if Wesley doesn't mention the truth at the following day's hearing, he will. 

Nick Locarno, we eventually learn, is the bad guy here. He was the one who wanted to perform the Kolvoord Starburst, saying that he aimed to perform a grand stunt for the upcoming commencement ceremony, giving him legend status among his class. Locarno did indeed pressure Josh into performing the maneuver, but after Josh died, he aimed to protect his fellow squadron members by asking them to lie about Josh's death during any inquiries. If anyone asks, it was all Josh's fault, which would allow the surviving cadets to skate by.

"The First Duty" was a test of Wesley's ethics, and it was a test he failed. He did lie, and he did follow Nick's orders. It wasn't until Picard busted him that Wesley decided to tell the truth to the Starfleet Academy inquiry board. Wesley went along with a dangerous stunt, which he knew was illegal, got a friend killed, and then tried to get away with it without facing any consequences. Understandably, Picard was very disappointed. 

Wesley is held back a year as punishment, and he knows that staying at Starfleet Academy will be difficult, as word will spread about what he did. Wesley decides to stay at the Academy, aiming to do penance. Worse than all that, however, is living with the fact that Picard is now disappointed; Picard is one of those authority figures that one admires so much, one never wants to see him crestfallen. 

As for Nick Locarno, Trekkies will point out that he actually suffered two fates. Actor Robert Duncan McNeill would go on to play a very Nick Locarno-like character, Lieutenant Tom Paris, on "Star Trek: Voyager" a few years later. Trekkies perpetuated rumors for years that Tom Paris was actually meant to be Nick Locarno, and that Paramount changed his name to avoid paying character rights to the authors of "The First Duty," Ron D. Moore and Naren Shankar. In truth, while Locarno was briefly considered as a character for "Voyager" (as stated in the history book "Star Trek: Voyager: A Vision of the Future"), the show's developers changed their minds because Locarno was not redeemable and they wanted a character who was. And then, because Tom Paris was Locarno-like anyway, getting Robert Duncan McNeill was just easier casting. 

Nick Locarno eventually returned many years later, on "Star Trek: Lower Decks." Newer Trekkies met him as a bitter ex-officer who had come to resent Starfleet Academy for not training him well enough to perform his Starburst maneuver. The characters on "Lower Decks," in a cute meta joke, do indeed pause to comment that Nick Locarno looks an awful lot like Lieutenant Tom Paris.