Man found not guilty in death at Derry bar
An Indiana County man has been acquitted of all charges filed after the Dec. 19 beating death of a 43-year-old Mt. Pleasant man.
Eli Marc Meyers, 46, of Burrell Township, gasped in relief on Monday as a jury of nine men and three women delivered a not-guilty verdict. His trial before Westmoreland County Judge Richard E. McCormick Jr. had stretched over six days.
"I was innocent the whole time. I knew I was innocent," Meyers said as sheriff's deputies escorted him back to the Westmoreland County Prison for processing. Meyers was released from the county lockup last night after almost 10 months behind bars.
"I'm going straight home," he said. "I want to be with my family."
Prosecutors were seeking a first-degree murder conviction for the death of Earl Taylor, a father of two and laborer who also coached for a recreational basketball league. Without a successful appeal, the verdict would have guaranteed a life sentence for Meyers.
According to police, Meyers beat Taylor to the ground before kicking the man's head repeatedly at the end of a struggle that broke out at Lakeside Lounge, an exotic-dance club in Derry.
Borough police Officer James Friscarella testified that Meyers admitted to the beating but said he kicked at Taylor because he feared the 300-pound man was getting up to retaliate. Meyers also admitted to eluding the authorities on the night of the incident and trying to hide his boots in the woods after rinsing them with water.
Forensic testing determined that blood discovered on Meyers' right boot belonged to Taylor.
One witness described Meyers stomping on Taylor's head. Another said Meyers never threw a punch.
Taylor's widow, Nadine, and other family members filed out of the courthouse soon after the verdict was read. An attempt to reach Nadine Taylor last night for comment was unsuccessful.
A civil lawsuit she filed earlier this year over her husband's death remains pending.
Meyers' attorney, Thomas R. Ceraso, argued that his client was frightened and acted in self-defense.
Assistant District Attorney Judith P. Petrush said testimony and a taped phone call to the county 911 center show that Meyers was acting aggressively beyond reason. Witnesses identified Meyers' voice in the recording commanding Taylor to get up as others pleaded with him to leave Taylor alone.
"Not only does he go back, but he escalates his conduct," Petrush said. "He puts the boot to him. It's not a fight anymore. The defendant turns it into an attack. It's a full-scale attack."
Under the law, jurors could have reasoned that Meyers was guilty of murder through the logic that he used a deadly weapon, his boot, on a vital area of Taylor's body, the head and neck, Petrush said.
"Self-defense is not justifiable when the victim is on his knees out cold and others are trying to stop it," she told the panel.
Jurors heard testimony from more than a dozen witnesses and investigators before spending 2 1/2 hours deciding the case on Monday.
"The fact that someone dies in a barroom fight does not mean that there's criminal liability on those involved," Ceraso told the jury. "You can't decide this case on sympathy. You can't decide this case on bias. You can't decide this case on prejudice."
Witnesses testified that Taylor became belligerent when bartenders stopped serving free drinks to him and his wife, whose father is married to the bar's owner. Toxicology test results showed that Taylor had a blood-alcohol content of 0.199 percent at the time of his death and that he had been taking anti-anxiety pills.
Taylor became entangled with several men trying to oust him from the bar after he erupted into a tantrum and punched a bartender, witnesses said.
According to a forensic pathologist testifying in Meyers' defense, that initial struggle likely killed Taylor, not Meyers' punches and kicks. Dr. Karl E. Williams, director of laboratory studies at Ellwood City Hospital in Lawrence County, theorized that Taylor's neck was squeezed while he grappled with a group of men, complicating pre-existing heart problems that led to heart failure.
Taylor was pronounced dead at Excela Health Latrobe Area Hospital shortly after the incident. Friscarella testified that Taylor was still breathing when authorities arrived on scene.
Autopsy results list the official cause of death as trauma to the head, face and neck with heart problems as a contributing factor.
Meyers' family and supporters began to cry on hearing the verdict. Walking out of the courthouse in a group alongside Ceraso, they deferred comment to the attorney.
"A case like this you just don't know where a jury's going to go," Ceraso said. "We're happy."
