Stabbing deemed self-defense
By JASON KING
The Kansas City Star
LAWRENCE — Former Kansas basketball player J.R. Giddens and Olathe resident Jeremiah Creswell were charged Tuesday for their roles in May altercations at a Lawrence night club.
Giddens was charged with misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct for his alleged involvement in a fight outside the Moon Bar on May 19 that left Giddens and four other men with stab wounds. Creswell was charged with misdemeanor battery for allegedly striking Giddens inside the bar earlier in the evening.
But Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson said Tuesday that he has no plans to charge Creswell for stabbing Giddens and the other men during a melee that erupted outside the establishment after closing time.
“Based on the information we’ve received, it appears that those injuries occurred while Mr. Creswell was trying to defend himself against several people who joined in the altercation,” Branson said.
In its May 27 editions, The Star reported that four witnesses at the scene — including two of the stabbing victims — blamed Giddens for instigating the fight in which they estimated 10-12 men hit Creswell with fists, bricks and bottles. Branson declined to give details about what he thinks Giddens may have done that night, but he said disorderly conduct often means “engaging in or instigating a fight.”
Both Giddens and Creswell are scheduled to appear at a Sept. 21 arraignment hearing. They face a maximum of $1,000 in fines and six months in jail.
“If they were to both enter guilty pleas, there wouldn’t be anywhere else for us to go with it,” Branson said of the nearly 3 1/2 -month-old case. “That would be the end of it.”
Creswell, who is jailed in El Dorado, Kan., on an unrelated charge, could not be reached for comment. He has denied that there was a physical altercation between him and Giddens inside the Moon Bar.
He said Giddens instigated a verbal confrontation that ended when Creswell was removed from the bar by a bouncer. As he waited outside for friends, Creswell said he phoned a female companion who was still inside the bar. He said she came to the door and handed him a 4-inch folding knife that he used moments after being attacked.
On Tuesday, Creswell’s mother said she and her family were relieved to learn that Giddens had been charged in her son’s beating.
“We’re so thankful that the district attorney has acknowledged what all the witnesses have said all along: that Jeremiah was attacked by a mob and that he had to defend himself to stay alive,” Beverly Creswell said.
“We hope he won’t back down and that he’ll continue to pursue this case against (Giddens).”
Giddens, who would have been Kansas’ top returning scorer this season, has denied that he instigated the fight. But the Moon Bar incident cast a negative light on the basketball program, and Giddens was pressured into transferring in early July.
Although he didn’t answer calls to his cell phone Tuesday, Giddens issued a statement through the University of New Mexico, his new school.
“Last May, I had an experience I will remember the rest of my life,” Giddens said. “I learned a lot from what happened that evening, and I feel I am a better person because of it. Now, I want to move on with a new and exciting situation I have at the University of New Mexico.”
As a result of the fight, Creswell needed 11 staples to close a wound on the back of his head. Giddens suffered a severed calf artery that forced him to walk with crutches for six weeks. Two other stabbing victims — Marcus Knight and Preston Patterson — were hospitalized with knife wounds to the rib cage and abdomen, respectively.
Branson spent more than two months reviewing a 250-page report filed by Lawrence detectives. Interviews were conducted with about 50 witnesses.
Among those questioned were a large number of current and former KU athletes, including basketball players Jeff Hawkins, Rodrick Stewart, Aaron Miles, Michael Lee and Darnell Jackson, football players Bobby Birhiray and Tony Stubbs and volleyball player Josi Lima.
Although there are no immediate plans to file additional charges, Branson said the Moon Bar case was “still open.” He said other people involved in the fight outside the bar could be charged, although he indicated that wasn’t likely.
Former KU basketball player Bryant Nash told The Star that he hit Creswell. And two witnesses have said that current KU forward C.J. Giles threw punches at Creswell.
“The investigation has reached a point to where there’s not any more the police department can do by interviewing people,” Branson said. “If these two cases go forth, we may have an opportunity to put people under oath and get some more information.”
Branson acknowledged that “justice may not be served” in regard to charging other people involved in the fight.
“One of the problems that you come upon in any case like this is anytime you have multiple people involved, you have to have credible evidence that X hit Y. You have to have someone that can say they saw it. Not someone that says they heard that it happened or thought it happened, but someone who says they saw it happen.
“The fact is that you have a melee that involved a lot of people, with people moving around and scuffling and running places. It’s normal to get conflicting stories in these types of situations.”
News of the charges against Giddens spread quickly throughout Lawrence. Asked to quantify the effect that the Moon Bar incident had on his program, Kansas basketball coach Bill Self said: “Our program took a big hit on May 19.”
The only other comments Self made came through a release issued by the school.
“We have put this situation behind us,” Self said. “The district attorney’s statement speaks for itself. We will have no further comment.”
Ron Ruiz, who owned the Moon Bar before it closed earlier this summer, said the charges against Giddens surprised him.
“He started a huge fight — a fight that got way out of hand and left a lot of people seriously hurt,” Ruiz said. “And he made the university look bad. He’s lucky he didn’t get charged with anything more serious.”
To reach Jason King, Kansas reporter, call (816) 234-4386 or send e-mail to jking@kcstar.com.
