Oregon man claims self-defense in fatal Santa Rosa fight with friend

The lawyer for an Oregon man at the center of a one-punch fight that left his friend dead argued Wednesday his client acted in self-defense when the other man threw an orange at him.

Bruce Lee Eyles, 30, of Eugene faces up to 11 years in prison if convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the killing of Isaac Sturtevant, 31, also of Eugene, who fell face-first onto a Santa Rosa sidewalk and suffered a fatal head wound.

Eyles’ lawyer, Tyler Hicks, argued at the end of a preliminary hearing that Eyles punched Sturtevant only after Sturtevant hurled the piece of fruit at him, striking him in the ribs.

The attorney argued that constituted a battery, similar to a punch, and Eyles had a right to defend himself.

“It’s a single punch from one grown man to another grown man,” Hicks told Judge Jamie Thistlethwaite. “Men throw punches all the time. It’s incredibly rare that someone dies.”

But prosecutor Carla Rodriguez argued it was not a surprise given Eyles’ large stature, his history as an amateur cage fighter and a previous brawl in which he punched a man and sent him to a hospital.

Rodriguez said Eyles knew his strength but acted in conscious disregard of his friend’s safety.

She also pointed to his own statements to police in which he admitted becoming enraged when Sturtevant threw the orange at the end of an argument in which Sturtevant insulted his dead mother.

“By his own words he was not acting in self-defense,” Rodriguez said to the judge. “This was someone who was angry.”

Thistlethwaite took the arguments under submission and is expected to issue a ruling 11 a.m. today. She could find sufficient evidence to try Eyles on voluntary manslaughter or dismiss the charge altogether. Prosecutors would have the option of filing a lesser charge.

The arguments came at the end of a four-hour hearing in which Sturtevant’s friend and two police officers testified about the July 31 incident.

Witness Michah Vasey said the two men had been visiting from Oregon in the weeks leading up to Sturtevant’s death.

They were drinking and playing music outside his Klute Street house in the historic St. Rose neighborhood when police said Eyles grabbed Sturtevant’s hat and put it on. Sturtevant responded by snatching Eyles’ glasses and the two began shouting at each other.

It escalated to the point where Sturtevant was making comments about Eyles’ mother and Eyles was warning him to shut up, Vasey said.

Vasey, who was a head bigger than either man, intervened, telling them to stop.

That’s when Sturtevant turned to walk away but instead picked up an orange and threw it, hitting Eyles from about 4 feet away, Vasey said.

Eyles immediately punched Sturtevant on the left side of the face, making him go limp and sending him to the ground.

“It seemed to me like he hit him about as hard as he could,” Vasey said.

Eyles went to his friend’s side to try to help, but Vasey shooed him away. Vasey rolled Sturtevant over, removed broken teeth from his mouth and tried to revive him, but he was unresponsive, he said.

“He just started turning blue,” Vasey said.

An autopsy determined Sturtevant died of blunt force trauma to his upper forehead. Det. Greg Wojcik of the Santa Rosa Police Department testified the fatal injury was caused when his head hit the sidewalk and not by the punch itself.

Lawyers for both sides argued over the significance of that before the judge declared a recess to think it over.

“It wasn’t like the punch killed him and he fell to the ground dead,” Thistlethwaite said.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 707-568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.