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In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors.
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Family of gay man fatally stabbed outside bar files lawsuit
Thursday July 17, 2003
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) The brother of a man who died after
being stabbed outside a gay bar filed a lawsuit against the
nightclub and a neighboring business, alleging both failed to
protect him.
Jeffrey Owens, 40, was beaten and stabbed in June 2002, then
bled to death at Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno
Valley where he received an overdose of an anti-clotting drug.
Police initially alleged that the attack on Owens, who was gay,
was a hate crime. A judge, however, dismissed hate-crime
allegations against five defendants, citing lack of evidence.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Owens' brother, Brent Owens,
names The Menagerie and owner David St. Pierre, along with a
neighboring business, the former Sandy's Pub, and its then-owner
Sandy Beam. It also names the five men and one woman who have been
charged in connection with Owens' death.
The lawsuit was filed last month in Superior Court. It contends
Sandy's Pub and The Menagerie failed to act reasonably when Owens
was attacked.
Riverside County paid $257,000 to Owens' family to settle claims
stemming from the drug error that coroner's officials said
contributed to his death.
The lawsuit against the bars also names Dorian Lee Gutierrez,
Viviano Cruz Marin, Ramon Rabago, David Leal Martinez and Miguel
Ramos, all of whom have been charged with murder. Wendy Plasier, a
bartender at Sandy's, also is named in the lawsuit. She was charged
as an accessory after police said she gave a false alibi for Marin.
All the defendants have pleaded innocent.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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