Update: Manslaughter Charges Dropped In METALLICA-Related Transit Bus Death
May 11, 2007, 17 years ago
CTV.ca has issued the following report, courtesy of Canadian Press:
The Crown has dismissed all charges against four teenagers in the death of a man on an Edmonton transit bus after a fight over heavy metal music (Ed. specifically the band METALLICA).
The four were charged with manslaughter in the March 2006 death of Stefan Conley, 35, originally from Cookshire, Que.
Details of the conflict on the bus emerged during a preliminary hearing that defence lawyer Peter Royal had requested not be under the usual publication ban.
Royal said Conley initiated the confrontation by grabbing one of the youths, whose three friends came to his aid.
Two passengers initially told police Conley was swarmed, kicked and stomped by four rowdy teens after he told them to settle down, but that evidence was discredited when the witnesses admitted they didn't actually see the youths attacking the man.
A medical examiner testified that Conley had a blood alcohol level twice the legal driving limit and died from a rare injury - a pinhole tear in a tiny artery at the base of his brain.
