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Last updated on Tuesday, October 7, 2014
(JASPER) - Two Pike County men involved in a 2013 deadly-bar fight have been sentenced to 3 years in prison.
24-year-old Leslie Osborn and 23-year-old Zachary Parks were each charged with felony counts of involuntary manslaughter in connect to the death of 41-year-old Timothy Stafford, of Dubois.
The fight happened on October 12 at J.R.'s Bar, on Clay Street.
The Dubois County Free Press reports, in plea agreements, the two Petersburg men's charge were amended to criminal recklessness resulting in serious bodily injury, last week.
Both men were sentenced to a three-year sentence through the Dubois County Security Center. Osborn will serve his three year sentence with one and a half years on adult day reporting and one and a half years on supervised probation. Parks will be in work release for his three-year sentence.
According to court records, Jasper police received a call from the owner of J.R.'s Bar at about 3 a.m. reporting there had been a fight outside of the bar and that Stafford was lying on the ground, unresponsive and not breathing.
When police and medical crews arrived they found Stafford on the ground bleeding from his nose and mouth and not breathing. He was rushed by ambulance to Memorial Hospital and then transferred to St. Mary's Medical Center by helicopter where he died.
An autopsy performed by the Vanderburgh County Coroner's Office determined Stafford died of blunt force trauma to his head.
Police later determined that two unnamed individuals has walked out of the bar and began a verbal and then physical fight. That is when Parks, Osborn, and Stafford went outside. Parks and Osborn were friends with one of the men in the altercation and Stafford was a friend of the other unnamed man.
Once outside Stafford attempted to intervene in the fight and was confronted by Osborn. The two began to fight and witnesses say Osborn punched Stafford in the face at least twice before the fight was broken up by the owner of the bar.
At that point, Stafford walked over to Parks and attempted to punch him but Parks punched him back, rendering Stafford unconscious.
While Stafford was on the ground, Parks got on top of his unconscious body and began to strike him repeatedly in the face. Bystanders attempted to get Parks to stop but Parks continued punching him.
According to witnesses, Osborn also struck Stafford in his torso while he was on the ground unconscious and not breathing.
Dubois County Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Crouse says was ready to take the case to trial, but the defense proposed a resolution.
Both men claimed they were acting in self defense because Stafford had thrown the first punch. Osborn also claimed he had nothing to do with the death because the fight with Stafford had stopped and that Stafford's death was solely attributable to Parks.
Crouse continued, saying that since jury trials do not have a guaranteed outcome, and, after much soul searching, Tim Stafford's family stated the uncertainty that Parks and Osborn could be found not guilty was not a risk the family wanted to take and that the certainty of criminal convictions through a plea agreement would provide the Stafford family with the closure they want and need.
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