Charges Pend Final Report on Fatal Fight

Prosecutors will decide next week whether two Cal State Fullerton football players will face charges in the beating death of an El Toro Marine, Deputy Dist. Atty. Melvin L. Jensen said Thursday.

Jensen said he expected to receive the final investigative report from Fullerton police detectives today, giving him the weekend and early next week to review the files before deciding how to proceed.

“At this point everything isn’t in, and we have made no decision on which way we’ll go,” he said.

The case involves the April 7 death of Staff Sgt. Richard W. Bottjer, a 30-year-old career Marine who was killed in a brawl outside a Fullerton bar. Police have said that Bottjer and another Marine, Lance Cpl. Thomas Duran, fought with two Cal State Fullerton football players after an argument broke out in a crowded bar.

Witnesses’ Report

The football players have been identified as sophomore quarterback Carlos Siragusa, 21, and junior wide receiver John Gibbs, 22. Neither could be reached for comment.

Witnesses reported that Bottjer, who officials said had been drinking heavily the night of his death, was hit once or twice during the fight, which took place in a parking lot across the street from Baxter’s bar and restaurant on North State College Boulevard.

A coroner’s report on his death is incomplete, but police said they were confident that Bottjer was not beaten or kicked once he was on the ground. Duran suffered only minor injuries in the fight.

Bottjer, divorced and the father of a 3-year-old son, had been stationed at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station since May of last year.

Following his death, Bottjer’s heart was implanted in a 26-year-old Huntington Beach man in Orange County’s first heart transplant. The transplant recipient, identified as Scott Headding, was reported Thursday to be in stable condition and slowly regaining strength. Doctors said he was told only that his new heart came from a man who had died in a fight.