Charges May Not Be Filed in Marine’s Death in Fight

An investigation into the death of an El Toro Marine sergeant who was beaten in a fistfight with two Cal State Fullerton football players may not turn up any evidence of wrongdoing, investigators said Monday.

The possibility that no charges may be filed in the case was raised by Fullerton Police Chief Philip Goehring, who said he is not convinced that a crime occurred when Staff Sgt. Richard W. Bottjer died April 7 outside a Fullerton bar.

“There is that possibility that the district attorney may decline to issue (charges),” Goehring said. “I am not rushing to make an arrest in this case. I want to be careful. If there is a prosecutable offense I plan to do so. (But) it depends on whether we gather evidence whether there was some specific intent to do great bodily injury.”

Players Identified

Bottjer, 30, was killed when he and another Marine scuffled with a a group of Cal State Fullerton students, including two football players.

In a statement released Monday afternoon, university athletic director Ed Carroll identified the Titan players as sophomore quarterback Carlos Siragusa, 21, and junior wide receiver John Gibbs, 22, and said they had been suspended pending the outcome of the police investigation of Bottjer’s death. He said Siragusa and Gibbs, who are roommates living off campus, were suspended from the team Friday after it was revealed that they had been involved in a fight at Baxter’s, a popular off-campus restaurant and bar.

“Information I have obtained to date gives a significantly different picture of the incident than do accounts that have appeared thus far in the news media,” Carroll said in a statement Monday about the suspensions. “But it would be inappropriate for either me or Coach Gene Murphy to engage in speculation.”

Police said the fight began when one of the Cal State students stepped in front of Bottjer during a “Hot Legs” competition and blocked his view. The fight started in Baxter’s on State College Boulevard and ended in the parking lot of a pizza parlor across the street.

Police said it appeared that Bottjer died of severe head injuries, but they are awaiting the results of an autopsy.

Bottjer was pronounced brain-dead last Thursday, and his heart was later implanted into a 26-year-old Huntington Beach musician. It was Orange County’s first such transplant. The recipient, who has not been identified, was reported in critical but stable condition Monday.

Goehring said it was first believed that the two Marines were pitted against four or possibly six Cal State Fullerton students. But the investigation has since revealed that it may have been a more even fight, probably more like two against two, he said.

“It appears that from what we pieced together it was two on two, but we are talking about a rapidly changing sequence of events,” Goehring said.

In addition, the chief disputed statements by at least one other witness that Bottjer, once he had been beaten to the ground, was kicked by his opponents, including Gibbs, who claims to be experienced in karate.

“We have no reason to believe that a weapon was used,” Goehring said. “We have not found any evidence that the deceased was kicked. Given these circumstances, it is in the category of mutual combat. Whether or not we are in the area of murder is up to the district attorney.”

Under the circumstances of “mutual combat,” Goehring said it was possible that no charges would be filed since the altercation could be looked on as a fight between two adults and involving no weapons.

Although the autopsy had not been released by late Monday afternoon, Goehring said it appeared that Bottjer could have been killed by a simple blow to the head.

“I have a feeling at least from the early reports that it is one of those unfortunate kinds of situations,” he said. “A blow is struck, and it causes kind of a whiplash injury that causes death. The blow appears to have been caused by a fist.”

Fullerton Police Sgt. Tony Hernandez, the chief investigating officer, said the argument between the Cal State students and the two Marines--Bottjer and Lance Cpl. Thomas Duran--broke out during the “Hot Legs” contest and probably was aggravated by the fact that both groups were at the bar celebrating birthdays.

In the case of the Marines, it was the birthday of Cpl. Scott Taylor, who was not involved in the melee but had accompanied the others to the bar. The students and football players apparently were celebrating quarterback Siragusa’s birthday, which fell on April 7.

“You have two sets of people and both of them celebrating birthdays,” Hernandez said. “Just two groups that got into an argument. . . . One thing led to another.”

The incident, meanwhile, was causing some concern on campus because of a rash of telephone threats and derogatory flyers circulated on campus.

Both the athletic department and football coach’s office reported receiving threatening telephone calls. One flyer seen on campus, addressed to Titan football coach Gene Murphy, asked: “What are you teaching these guys? Only a coward murders someone that is already on the ground.”

The reference was to earlier, unconfirmed witnesses’ reports that once Bottjer had been decked by a punch he was kicked by several members of the group.

Neither Siragusa nor Gibbs could be reached for comment, but other players and coaches said they had not known either player to be involved in fights, on the field or off it.

‘They’ve been here four or five years, and they’ve done everything we have asked them to do,” Murphy said. “They have never been in any trouble. They are emotionally distraught (over the incident), just like I would be or you would be.”

Mel Franks, the school’s sports information officer, said the two lived together and were considered close friends.

“Quarterbacks and wide receivers tend to work a lot together and hang out,” he said. “When you first hear of something like this happening, you think maybe some of the more aggressive defensive guys were involved, but Gibbs is only 6-1 and 179 (pounds), a skinny, passive-looking guy.

“On a scale of 100 players I’d put them in the bottom 20 of those you’d expect this to happen to,” he said.

Times staff writer Nancy Wride contributed to this report.