Dec 28, 2007 10:08 pm US/Central
No Charges In Student's Drinking Death
MANKATO, Minn. (WCCO) ―
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Police said Amanda Jax had a blood alcohol level of 0.46 when she died after drinking various types of alcohol on her 21st birthday. (File)
Star Tribune
Prosecutors in Mankato won't file charges in the death of a former Minnesota State University student who died after becoming heavily intoxicated on the night of her 21st birthday.
Amanda Jax had a blood alcohol level of nearly 0.46 early the morning after her Oct. 29th birthday. But Blue Earth County prosecutor Ross Arneson said after an investigation he didn't believe he could convince a jury that the bartender at Sidelines Bar and Grill would have known Jax was "obviously intoxicated" before he served her.
Tucked away
in a mall in Mankato
is Sidelines Bar and Grill -- the spot where Amanda Jax had her final
drinks: Long Island Iced Tea, a shot of Captain Morgan, a shot of Jim
Beam, a cherry bomb shot, a stop light shot and beer.
Documents
from the Blue Earth County Attorney's Office laid out a timeline of that
evening with Amanda's friends.
They came
to the bar between 9:30 and 10 p.m. Her friends bought her drinks. The
bartender took one shot of cherry schnapps and energy drink with the group
too. At the time, he told investigators he was talking with Jax and
thought she was OK.
The documents
state the unidentified, 23-year-old bartender had gone through alcohol server
training, but about five minutes later the bartender noticed Amanda's was
slumped over in a chair.
"He
told her friends, she's cut off. She can't drink anymore. Get her out of here,"
said Blue Earth County Attorney Ross Arneson.
Arneson
said her friends then took Amanda to their off-campus house and put her to bed.
She vomited
around 1:30 a.m. Her friends told investigators, "We're used to
taking care of her. We're used to her being like this."
At 2:30 a.m.,
Amanda was snoring and sleeping, fully-clothed in her friend's bed.
At 7a.m., a
female friend checked on Amanda. She was cold and not breathing.
The county
attorney's office has investigated this case for nearly two months. On
Friday, Arneson said he didn't think a unanimous jury would find this a crime.
In Minnesota,
he'd have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the bartender and her friends gave
her alcoholic beverages when they knew she was "obviously intoxicated."
"Can
anyone show me a particular point in time where it was obvious to the bartender
that she was intoxicated and he served her another drink?" asked Arneson. "I
don't think we can prove that."
Amanda's
mother's lawyer, Alan Milavetz, said his client is disappointed with the County Attorney's
decision.
"There's
a certain point where circumstances start to steamroll and a person goes beyond
0.10, 0.20, 0.30, when you don't have discretion anymore and you're too
impaired," Milavetz said. "And that's when you have to begin to rely
on the training that bartenders in liquor sales establishments are supposed to
provide for their employees."
Milavetz
said Jenny Haag was also upset with her daughter's friends' comments to
investigators about Amanda's drinking habits. One friend estimated she'd
seen Amanda drunk "over a hundred times" in the last year.
"She
was shaken by it. She doesn't believe, nor do I. We have a situation where
Amanda was out with many of her friends most of who feel a degree of
culpability, I imagine," he said.
Milavetz
said he'll file a civil lawsuit in Amanda's case. He simply has to prove
it was more likely than not the bartender or friends gave Amanda drinks when
she was obviously intoxicated.
"Jenny
Haag wants to see that this doesn't happen to somebody else," he said.
The Mankato
City Council will likely vote in January whether to impose a $2,000 fine on Sidelines
or revoke or suspend its liquor license.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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