Testimony continues in lawsuit over stabbing at party

A jury began hearing testimony Tuesday in a lawsuit in which a former member of an Ohio University fraternity is suing the son of a former Ohio judge and congressional candidate, for allegedly stabbing him outside a fraternity party in January 2007.

Defendant Brandon O'Neill is the son of former appellate Judge William O'Neill, who ran for Congress unsuccessfully in 2008.

In Athens County Common Pleas Court yesterday, Brandon O'Neill testified that while he brandished a knife to try to keep a group of assailants including Miller from continuing their violent attack on him and a friend, he never stabbed anyone after leaving a party at the Delta Upsilon fraternity house at 32 Elliott St. in Athens.

According to a pre-trial court filing by O'Neill's attorney, what happened during the incident is this: O'Neill (then a Hocking College student) went by invitation with two friends, Michael Spresser and Bill O'Brien, to a party at the DU house.

Spresser got into some kind of altercation with his roommate who was a fraternity member, and was asked to leave, which he did.

He later returned and got into what is described as an "argument/shoving match" with another fraternity member. After that altercation, defense attorney James L. Mann claims, O'Neill, Spresser and O'Brien were confronted by an "angry mob" of 20-30 people in front of the DU house, who shouted at them to leave the area, and then followed them when they did.

The trio allegedly backed down an alley, followed by five to nine larger men. Spresser managed to flee, but O'Neill and O'Brien were backed up against a storage building and were being beaten by several men. This was when O'Neill supposedly flashed his knife and drove the mob off.

Asked Monday by Miller's attorney, Russell L. Flickenger, why he pulled the knife on the men after they followed him across Elliott Street, O'Neill replied, "to scare everyone away from us."

O'Neill claimed that after he pulled the knife from his pocket, flicked open the blade, and held it up in the air for his assailants to see, they left the scene.

Witnesses for Miller told a different story, however. They claimed that they had to drive O'Neill and his friends from the scene, and that only four men crossed Elliott Street to follow O'Neill and his friends.

They also claimed that while in the alley, O'Brien attacked Miller with a chain. One of the group from the fraternity, James McGill, testified that he then hit O'Brien and shoved him away from Miller, and at that point, the fraternity group fled.

Both McGill and another man, Chris Grimeldi, testified that they did not actually see O'Neill stab Miller, though Grimeldi said he saw O'Neill making a "stabbing motion" while he grappled with Miller.

McGill testified, however, that shortly after the incident, Miller called him on the phone, "saying he had been stabbed, and was having a hard time breathing."

McGill said he then ran outside to meet Miller, who was returning to the DU house, and Miller pulled up his shirt to display his wound.

"He had blood gushing out of his chest," McGill testified. He called 911, and Miller was transported to the hospital.

Mann questioned McGill about the sequence of events that led to O'Neill's group being ejected from the DU party.

McGill said during the second altercation involving Spresser, he came downstairs to the backyard of the fraternity house to see Spresser fighting with a fraternity member, while a crowd - including O'Neill and O'Brien - stood and watched.

Asked why Grimeldi began yelling at O'Brien and O'Neill to leave if they were simply standing there, not causing trouble, McGill replied, "maybe he knew they were causing trouble."

He testified that the O'Neill group "didn't want to leave; they weren't going to leave," so a bunch of men from the party began advancing on them to drive them out.

The fraternity group kept following them out, he said, because "in my opinion, I didn't think they were going to leave... If they would have wanted to leave, they just would have turned around and left."

Mann noted that O'Neill and his friends did leave the property, backing out and crossing Elliott Street. He questioned why, once the three had left the property, the fraternity group did not just turn around and go back inside.

He also questioned McGill about inconsistencies between his account of the alleged chain attack and that of an earlier witness.

McGill indicated O'Brien had wrapped a chain around his fist and used it like brass knuckles. But an earlier witness, Mann noted, had said O'Brien hit Miller with a length of chain.

O'Neill acknowledged that his group had been drinking beer for about two hours before going to the DU party. He also acknowledged that in a deposition, O'Brien had described himself as being "near blackout stage" of intoxication by the time he arrived.

Asked by Flickenger why, when in the alley, he didn't just flee by the same route Spresser took, O'Neill admitted there weren't any physical obstacles barring his path.

"Just fear," he said.

Though O'Neill has said he was punched and kicked by his assailants, he admitted he sought no medical attention after the incident.

Miller is seeking $1 million in punitive damages, and at least $25,000 in compensatory damages.

The trial was still in progress as of Wednesday morning.