Jury deliberating whether bar culpable for fatal DUI crash

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A Richland County jury hasn’t made a decision on whether to make the former owner of a sports bar pay damages to the family of a South Carolina girl killed by a drunken driver who spent hours at the Columbia bar.

The State newspaper (http://bit.ly/1k9ctjg ) reports that the jury began deliberating Thursday over the lawsuit filed by the family of 6-year-old Emma Longstreet against the former owner of The Loose Cockaboose.

The girl died New Year’s Day 2012 when her family’s minivan was struck by a drunken driver.

Thirty-year-old Billy Patrick Hutto Jr. pleaded guilty to assault and felony DUI and is serving 10 years in prison.

Hutto says he drank three cocktails at the bar after having already consumed numerous other drinks that day.

The bar’s attorney, Andrew Watson, said Hutto’s testimony isn’t reliable.

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Information from: The State, http://www.thestate.com