| For Immediate Release Case # 07HF0954
July 23, 2008 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
MAN FACES TRIAL FOR STABBING AND MURDERING LAKE FOREST BAR PATRON IN PARKING LOT FIGHT
SANTA ANA – An Anaheim man faces trial tomorrow for stabbing and murdering another man outside of a Lake Forest bar. Jean Pierre Castellanos, 24, is charged with one felony count of murder with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 16 years to life in state prison. Opening statements are expected to begin tomorrow, Thursday, July 24, 2008, at 9:00 a.m., in Department C-30, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
At approximately 1:00 a.m. on May 8, 2007, Castellanos and two friends were leaving Big Shots Bar and Grill in Lake Forest. Timothy Matthew Jones, 26, was still inside the bar as his girlfriend, Andrea Leeonna Connelly, 30, and another friend also began to leave. When Connelly bumped into Castellanos’ friend, the two groups got into a verbal argument that escalated into a fist fight in the parking lot. When Jones came out of the bar to help his friends, Castellanos is accused of taking out a knife and stabbing the victim three times in the stomach, chest, and face. Jones was taken to Mission Hospital, where he later died.
Connelly, who encouraged the fight and hit both Castellanos and his friend, was convicted of two misdemeanor counts of assault and two misdemeanor counts of battery on May 29, 2008, and was sentenced to 120 days in jail.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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