Teen Not Charged in Fatal Fistfight
Two boys fought at a juvenile detention
center and one died. Prosecutors say the
teenagers were equally responsible.
By CURTIS KRUEGER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 7, 2003
LARGO - A 16-year-old youth will not be
charged with a crime for his role in a deadly
fight at the Pinellas Juvenile Detention Center,
prosecutors have decided.
In the brief fight two months ago inside the
detention center, Louis Lauro hit 17-year-old
Danny Matthews a couple of times after a day of
trash-talking. Matthews fell to the floor and
was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly
afterward.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office had
recommended charging Lauro with manslaughter.
The Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office
disagreed this week and chose not to file
charges because the two youths essentially had
agreed to fight.
"They both had expressed a desire to fight
each other, and it evolved into a mutual combat
situation," Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce
Bartlett said. "One party was no more
responsible than the other party."
Bartlett said testimony from other inmates
showed the two teenagers had clashed in some
sort of altercation earlier and had threatened
each other repeatedly on May 31, the day of the
fight. He said there was "a plan by both parties
to kind of determine who was the tougher of the
two."
Also, the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner's
Office said Wednesday it had been unable to
determine whether Matthews had died because of a
punch to the head or from hitting his head on
something as he fell. The cause of death was
blunt trauma to the head.
Matthews' father, Robert, said he felt
"devastation" after hearing the news that no
charges would be filed. "I couldn't believe it."
Robert Matthews said he is most frustrated at
the Department of Juvenile Justice workers who
were supervising the youths in the detention
center. "I said right from the start, I blame
the people more that were supposed to watch them
than I blame that kid," he said.
But deciding not to charge Lauro with any
crime didn't seem right to him either. "You've
still got be held accountable for what you did,"
Matthews said.
Melba Zirkle, who is Lauro's grandmother,
said she felt relieved. But she added: "There is
no win in this incident here. There was no win
on either part of this. It's a tragedy, and I'm
sorry it happened. But I'm glad my grandson is
getting some mental relief."
She said the incident "has bothered my
grandson the whole time. It's a hard thing, I'm
glad it's over for him. I'm again, sorry for the
parents of Danny and his family."
Matthews was in the JDC on a charge of
domestic aggravated battery. His mother said he
had pushed her across the table and bruised her
arm, and she had pressed charges hoping he would
get mental health and drug treatment. Lauro was
facing violation of probation on charges of
battery, disorderly conduct and criminal
mischief. Lauro is now housed in a different
juvenile facility, Zirkle said.
The detention center is a 120-person jail in
the Largo area used primarily for inmates
younger than 18 facing juvenile charges. Most
stay 21 days or less. The facility, near the
county criminal justice complex on 49th Street,
is operated by the state Department of Juvenile
Justice.
DJJ spokeswoman Catherine Arnold would not
comment about whether having inmates engaged in
"mutual combat" showed that youths were not
properly supervised. A separate investigation
into detention workers' conduct is under way by
the DJJ inspector general's office.
In particular, investigators are expected to
look into how the two youths got out of their
cells to begin the fight. Some witnesses have
said another inmate asked a detention worker to
open the cell doors, which allowed the two to
clash.
Cathy Corry, a Clearwater activist who runs
the Web site
www.justice4kids.org
said "someone in the
Department of Juvenile Justice should be held
accountable for what appears to be negligence on
their part in opening those doors when they knew
that those two youths were having verbal
altercations."
Although a video camera was running in the
detention center at the time of the fight, it
did not provide a clear image of what happened,
Bartlett said.
Asked whether sheriff's officials were
disappointed in the state attorney's decision,
Detective Tim Goodman said "any time you do an
investigation, and especially if there's a death
investigation, I'm sure there's some
disappointment."
- Curtis Krueger can be reached at 727
893-8232 or at
krueger@sptimes.com
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