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Jury has not-guilty verdict in one-punch bar death

By: Mike McIntyre

Posted: 10/6/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

IT'S the type of scenario that can become all too common when you mix alcohol with testosterone: A perceived slight, a few heated words and suddenly the fists start flying.

And it's the exact type of situation that can have deadly consequences.

Now, for the second time this year, a Winnipeg jury has found no criminal wrongdoing in a one-punch bar fight that ended in tragedy.

Nicholas Somers, 29, wiped away tears and embraced sobbing family members Friday afternoon after being found not guilty of manslaughter for the July 2010 tragedy at Bar Italia on Corydon Avenue. Deliberations had started Thursday afternoon following an eight-day trial.

Jurors clearly accepted the claim by Somers he acted in self-defence. Gary Rent, 33, a University of Manitoba graduate student, died after being punched in the head, falling to the ground, landing hard on the pavement and suffering a traumatic brain injury.

Most of the facts were not in dispute, but Crown and defence lawyers presented vastly different takes on the evidence during closing arguments.

Somers said he had no choice but to act after Rent came to the bar looking for a fight and refused to relent. The victim's brother-in-law, Darren Colomy, was also working at the bar and testified Rent, a trained boxer, was angry about a personal family issue and repeatedly challenged him as the bar closed that night.

"Gary Rent was a powder keg, ready to explode," defence lawyer Saul Simmonds told jurors earlier this week. "A stick of dynamite, primed with alcohol. Violent, aggressive, unpredictable, dangerous. He was a boxer looking for a fight. He was not going to be talked out of a fight, no matter who, no matter what."

Somers testified in his own defence, telling jurors Rent made him feel threatened and he was just trying to protect himself, Colomy and others at the bar. He denied the Crown's suggestion he "sucker-punched" the much smaller Rent.

"Mr. Somers is not being honest. You can't rely on what he says," Crown attorney Chantal Boutin argued in her final statement. She said Rent posed little threat to anyone, largely due to his drunken state. An autopsy revealed he was at twice the legal alcohol limit to drive a car.

Colomy, whom the Crown described as a "mountain of a man" who outweighed Rent by more than 100 pounds, admitted he never felt his safety was at risk and thought he could have defused the situation on his own. He said Rent was "shadowboxing" with him but never actually laid a hand on him.

The case has many similarities to that of former University of Manitoba Bisons football player Jeremy Botelho. Jurors found him not guilty of manslaughter last June, agreeing with his claim it was a case of "fight or flight" when he got into a confrontation on the dance floor of a city bar.

Botelho, 25, never disputed he was responsible for the April 2010 death of Kelly Clay inside the Nor-Villa Motor Hotel on Henderson Highway. His fate boiled down to whether he had the legal right to act as he did.

Clay, just 18 at the time, was struck with a single punch to the face, fell backwards and struck his head on the dance floor. A pathologist testified Clay died as a result of blunt-force trauma to the head. Clay -- as with Rent in the most recent case -- had a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit for driving, which would have impacted his decision-making and ability to defend himself, court was told.

www.mikeoncrime.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 6, 2012 A3

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