Attorneys for eight current or former Bartholomew County employees being sued in a federal civil obstruction of justice lawsuit have filed a motion to dismiss the case.
The lawsuit, now in amended form, has been pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana since April 7, 2015, the two-year anniversary of Cary Owsley’s shooting death at his Zephyr Village home outside of Columbus. Then-Bartholomew County Coroner Larry Fisher, one of the defendants, ruled that Owsley’s death was a suicide.
In their motion to dismiss the case, filed May 18 in the federal court, the defendants allege Cary Owsley’s son, Logan Owsley, has no legal standing to assert any claims relating to his father’s death, based on recent state court rulings including by the Indiana Supreme Court. The motion also claims qualified immunity in the motion, stating the defendants did not violate Cary Owsley’s clearly established rights.
They also allege the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over Logan Owsley’s claims because the amended complaint fails to state a claim for which relief can be granted. Bartholomew Circuit Court has already determined there were no claims related to Cary Owsley’s death to be pursued, according to the motion to dismiss.
In addition, the defendants are also seeking to continue a stay on any discovery in the case while the motion to dismiss the case is pending. The case had been on hold in federal court while the state courts ruled on whether Logan Owsley retained standing in his father’s case after Cary Owsley’s probate case was closed in Bartholomew Circuit Court in 2016 by a special judge.
Trent McCain, one of Logan Owsley’s attorneys, said the motion to dismiss was filed as expected and a response is being prepared to oppose the motion. McCain said attorneys will ask for an additional 14 days to respond to the motion.
If the court rules to dismiss the lawsuit, Logan Owsley has the option to appeal the decision to the federal Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, McCain said.
Attorneys for the county employees earlier have said they do not comment on pending litigation.
The federal lawsuit was filed April 7, 2015, by Logan Owsley in U.S. District Court against then-Bartholomew County Sheriff Mark Gorbett, Fisher and current and former sheriff’s deputies E. DeWayne Janes Sr., Dean A. Johnson, Christie L. Nunemaker, Brent E. Worman, William R. Kinman Jr. and Christopher Roberts.
Owsley, 49, was found by his wife, Lisa, in his home April 7, 2013 with a chest wound from a bullet fired from a handgun, police said.
Nearly four months later, three sheriff’s department deputies — E. DeWayne Janes, Dean Johnson and Christie Nunemaker — were disciplined for errors in judgment while investigating the shooting.
Among those errors were allowing Janes, who was formerly married to Cary Owsley’s wife Lisa, to enter the death scene and remove Cary Owsley’s body from the home and allowing him to touch and secure the handgun, according to the lawsuit. Janes helped cut out a section of the rug that was blood-soaked and bagged it for disposal after investigators left, according to allegations in the lawsuit.
In the most recent court filing to reopen the federal lawsuit, attorneys representing Logan Owsley allege that the Bartholomew County officials, in conspiracy with others, intentionally destroyed and manipulated key pieces of evidence in the shooting death and engaged in other egregious misconduct to cover up true circumstances and the cause of Cary Owsley’s death, according to the petition.
“In so doing, defendants engaged in an illegal conspiracy, obstructed justice, denied access to the courts and inflicted emotional distress, in violation of the U.S. Constitution and Indiana Law,” the petition states. Logan Owsley is seeking compensatory and punitive damages and attorney fees from the eight defendants in a jury trial, the lawsuit states.
