Opinion ID: 183879
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Night of Meagher's Death[1]

Text: On July 2, 1999, at approximately 11:00 p.m., Kirwan and his friend Brian Perry walked from the apartment building in which they both lived to a crowded bar across the street. There, Kirwan had several brief encounters with Meagher. The first, essentially a continuation of an earlier argument, ended when Perry told Kirwan and Meagher to grow up and shake hands. During the second, an angry Kirwan told Meagher that they could take it outside, but Meagher walked away. Between the second and third encounters, Kirwan left the bar for approximately fifteen minutes, ostensibly to record a pay-per-view movie that was scheduled to be televised at midnight. Before Kirwan left the bar to record the movie, he spoke with Perry. As discussed below, Kirwan mentioned something about a shank to Perry. When Kirwan returned, Meagher was still at the bar. During their third encounter, Meagher approached Kirwan and they argued. Shortly thereafter, Kirwan told Perry that he was worried about Meagher and another man, Leo Purcell, who was with Meagher. As Meagher left the bar, he and Kirwan again exchanged words. Kirwan then mentioned to Perry that he was worried that he was going to have to fight Meagher and Purcell. Approximately ten minutes later, Meagher came back into the bar and argued briefly with Kirwan. At approximately 1:00 a.m., Kirwan and Perry left the bar. Outside, Meagher drove his truck alongside Kirwan, argued with him, and then parked his truck. Kirwan and Meagher approached each other in the street. Kirwan punched Meagher three times. The third time, he struck the front of Meagher's chest and had a shiny, metallic object in his hand. Kirwan then yelled that he was going to get a gun and walked toward his home, approximately fifty feet away. Meagher walked approximately thirty feet back toward his truck before falling flat on his face. Police and an ambulance arrived and Meagher was brought to a hospital, where he died. The cause of death was blood loss caused by a knife wound in his chest. A search of the scene later yielded a small knife with blood on it. The DNA of the blood on the knife matched Meagher's DNA.