After first
declining to file assault or burglary charges in August,
Salt Lake County prosecutors are again reviewing
whether to bring charges against a group of attackers
who are accused of beating a gay male couple this
summer, reports Utah's Salt Lake Tribune.
Prosecutors are
now reviewing the complicated case "under different
theory," deputy district attorney Alicia Cook told the
Tribune. A decision on whether to bring charges
won't be made "anytime soon" though.
The attack seemed
to stem from an alleged kidnapping of children by David
James Bell during a Fourth of July party. Bell is currently
charged with kidnapping two children while at a
neighbor's late-night Fourth of July party. According
to Bell, he found a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old awake
and fussy and took them over to his house so they could
sleep on his couch. The children had already been
removed from Bell's home when three to five adult
relatives of the children -- unaware the kids were no
longer in the house -- broke down the door to Bell's
home.
What followed,
according to the Tribune, was a vicious attack
in which Bell's throat and toe were sliced with
broken glass and his head slammed on the sidewalk. Bell's
boyfriend, Dan Fair, who is not charged in the alleged
kidnapping, had a large TV thrown onto his head.
Bell's lawyer
calls the attack a "hate crime." Bell's kidnapping
case will go to trial in April. (Neal Broverman,
Advocate.com)
