Defense questions murder charges

STABBING: A gay man would have survived had he received the proper medication dose, they say.

11/23/2002

By MIKE KATAOKA
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE

RIVERSIDE - Testimony in the case of a gay man beaten and stabbed outside a Riverside bar shifted from the crime scene to the hospital Friday, with more to come next month.

The key question is whether five men who allegedly attacked Jeffery Owens in June should be held responsible for murder considering that an overdose of a blood-thinning drug contributed to his death.

A Riverside woman is also charged in the case as an accessory.

The six defendants' preliminary hearing will resume Dec. 12 in Riverside County Superior Court.

Prosecutor Anne Corrado contends that Owens' death was murder because he wouldn't have been in the hospital had he not been attacked in what has been labeled a hate crime.

But defense lawyers argue that Owens would have survived the attack had the medical staff administered a proper dose of heparin instead of an extreme overdose. They say their clients are excessively charged.

After two Riverside police detectives recounted interviews with witnesses and suspects Friday, the defense called its first witness, a surgeon who operated on Owens.

Dr. David A. Bolivar, one of the first physicians to treat Owens at Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley, testified that the heparin was used in connection with a process of transfusing Owens' recycled blood before surgery.

When a nurse asked how much of the anti-clotting drug to use, Bolivar said he told her "whatever the protocol is for this (transfusion) device."

He said he was aware at the time that the prescribed heparin dosage was up to 5,000 units. Later, he found out that Owens had received 100,000 units.

Owens, 40, of Moreno Valley, died June 6 at the hospital. An autopsy report attributed his death to the stabbing but noted the overdose of heparin as a contributing factor.

Bolivar said he performed surgery to repair damage to Owens' lung and artery and later operated again to find out why he continued to bleed heavily.

Before Bolivar testified, defense lawyers told Judge Patrick Magers that Bolivar told people on three occasions that Owens' condition was not life-threatening.

But on the witness stand, the doctor said, "I never recalled saying that."

When the preliminary hearing resumes, defense lawyers are expected to call more doctors to testify that the surgery was successful and Owens would have lived had he not been given so much heparin.

"The amount of heparin would have killed anyone in this room," said Deputy Public Defender Mark Johnson, who is representing Dorian Lee Gutierrez, 19, of Riverside, the man accused of stabbing Owens.

Also charged with murder for allegedly taking part in the beating attack are Miguel Angel Ramos, 28; Viviano Cruz Marin, 26; and David Leal Martinez, 19, all of Riverside; and Ramon Meza Rabago, 19, of Highgrove. Charged as an accessory is Wendy Christina Plasier, 27, of Riverside.

According to two days of preliminary hearing testimony so far, Owens exchanged hostilities with the defendants before he was attacked outside The Menagerie, a University Avenue gay bar.

One of the attackers was heard to call Owens a "fag" while others said Owens yelled an obscenity at the group and challenged them to come back as they drove away, according to police testimony.

Besides a murder charge, the defendants also are accused of a hate crime in connection with the attack, an allegation that carries a no-parole life term.