Sterling News Service
Thursday, January 09, 2003
The Crown has dropped an assault charge against a man accused of viciously beating actor Michael Moriarty outside a Maple Ridge bar last year.
Keith Gangell was charged with assault causing bodily harm in connection with an attack on Moriarty at the Wolf Lounge on Jan. 9, 2002. The trial was scheduled to start next Monday at Port Coquitlam.
The Crown has decided to stay the charge due to a lack of evidence.
Moriarty, who was seriously injured in the attack, is not to blame for the shortage of hard evidence, said Crown counsel Peter Stabler.
"It wasn't a problem with any witness," Stabler said. "It was the central identification of who did it to him."
However, the Crown is proceeding with an assault charge against Victor Florence, who is accused of assaulting Christopher Morris, the man accompanying Moriarty at the time of the attack. His one-day trial will be held Monday. Moriarty will not be called to testify as a witness, Stabler said.
The beating knocked Moriarty unconscious and sent him to hospital, but he was released the same day.
Moriarty is best known for his portrayal of executive assistant district attorney Benjamin Stone on the long-running TV crime drama Law & Order.