Federal judge dismisses Owsley lawsuit

A judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana ruled today to dismiss a complaint filed by Logan A. Owsley against several law enforcement officers in regards to the death of his father, Cary Owsley.

Judge Richard L. Young ruled there was no federal jurisdiction over the claims filed by Logan Owsley involving the death of his father Cary Owsley.

Attorneys for eight current or former Bartholomew County employees being sued in a federal civil obstruction of justice lawsuit filed a motion to dismiss the case in May 2018.

The lawsuit, which was in amended form, had 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.

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.

For more on this story, see Thursday’s Republic.