The murder trial of Ohio man Carl Wimpey is underway in a Lucas County courtroom. Prosecutors say that Wimpey caused the death of 59-year-old Daniel Vasquez Sr. Wimpey faces charges of murder and felonious assault.
The alleged victim’s nephew, Arthur Richter, started a fistfight with Wimpey on January 31 at the Brew-Ha’s Bar. Vasquez was hit while apparently trying to stop the fight, prosecutors said. He sustained a fractured jaw and was knocked out. He died February 4. Wimpey threw the fatal punch, prosecutors said.
They successfully went after Richter in connection with the uncle’s death and got him convicted for complicity to murder and inciting violence.
“Nobody wins,” the victim’s son Dan Vasquez Jr., said, according to The Toledo Blade after the September conviction. The victim’s wife Darlene said the defendant deserved the guilty verdict, but added that she “practically raised him.”
“It’s just totally screwed up our whole family,” she said.
At that trial, a medical examiner testified that Vasquez passed away from blunt force trauma complications. Surveillance footage showed to jurors showed Richter grabbing a pool stick before the actual fight (a woman took it from him). He f0llowed Wimpey and another individual out of Brew-Ha’s, and threw beer bottles at their vehicle, prosecutors said. Cue the actual brawl. Wimpey and his buddy allegedly charged inside the restaurant.
Richter’s mother Carol Aldrich insisted that her son was just trying to protect Vasquez and vice versa. That night as the bar was the first time they had hung out in two years.
Wimpey’s friend was not charged.
[Mugshot via Toledo Police Department]
