|
Family of Headlock Death Victim Speaks Out-Flint Adam
The family of a Bedford County man who died after being put in a headlock late last summer says his death was no accident.
39 year-old Anthony Marlin died at a Shelbyville house party last August, and his family believes his death is murder, plain and simple.
The family of Anthony Marlin says he loved his friends, practical jokes, and the life he lived.
They also say his untimely death - at 39 years old - was no accident.
"No way. My son was murdered," Marlin's mother, Barbara Thompson, tells us.
On August 26th, 2009, Marlin was attending a party at a Shelbyville home when 25 year-old Matthew Patterson allegedly put him in a headlock for 10 to 15 seconds.
Marlin quit breathing, and doctors later pronounced him dead at a local hospital.
Party-goers told sheriff's deputies that Marlin and Patterson had been roughhousing.
"It wasn't horseplay, because they hurt him bad," Thompson says.
Marlin's recently released autopsy report paints a disturbing picture, citing crushed bones and hemorrhaging in his neck, and several injuries to other parts of his body.
"His head had knots on it, his face was messed up. His nose, his hands, clothes were torn - bruises all over his face," Thompson says.
Marlin's mother says the coroners report lays it out firmly - homicide.
But was it intentional, or not?
That's the question keeping marlin's family up at night.
Marlin's sister, Lisa Spray says, "It's very hard - we just want justice."
Matthew Patterson has a past record of violent behavior: assault charges in 2003 and 2005, along with criminal trespassing, and charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Patterson's attorney, John Norton, says this case isn't what prosecutors would have the public believe.
"Quite frankly, we disagree that it was Mr. Patterson's horseplay that resulted or directly caused the death of Mr. Marlin."
But Marlin's family thinks his death might be just as black and white as the pages of his autopsy report.
"Our life will never be the same," says Barbara Thompson. "The only way I can come up here and be with my son is at this grave. He won't ever walk in the door again - he won't ever put his arm around me again."Family of Headlock Death Victim Speaks Out-Flint Adam
Posted: Wednesday, February 3 2010, 04:39 PM CST
|
