New Civil Trial Ordered Against St. Cloud’s Red Carpet in Patron’s Stabbing Death

(KNSI) – The Minnesota Court of Appeals Monday ordered a new trial against the Red Carpet in St. Cloud in connection to the stabbing death of a patron.

In December 2019, Bryant Stephenson, Christopher Lamar Johnson and Lawrence Johnson were seen attacking a man on the dance floor when 29-year-old Unity McGill was standing nearby and stepped in to try and break it up. Lawrence Johnson is then seen on surveillance video hitting McGill and McGill fighting back. Christopher Johnson then attacks McGill, who again is seen fighting back. The three men were kicked out of the club but came back inside a short time later. Security cameras show the three men circle McGill, knocking him to the ground, where he was stabbed and beaten. McGill stumbled to the main entry, where he collapsed and later died from his injuries.

According to court filings, the Red Carpet policy bans people from returning to the club that night if they’re kicked out. Security staff was accused of failing to notify other guards that the three men had been told to leave and were banned from coming back inside.

Stephenson, Christopher Johnson and Lawrence Johnson were convicted and sentenced to prison.

In January 2021, McGill’s family sued the three men and the Red Carpet in civil court, seeking compensation for his death. The lower court convicted the three men but found the bar wasn’t liable for McGill’s death. Because they are already in prison, the men can’t pay the victim’s family.

The family appealed the decision to the higher court and was granted a new civil trial. Waite Park-based law firm Bradshaw and Bryant was asked by the Minnesota Association of Justice to craft an amicus brief for the appeals judges to review. It’s an independent review and opinion by legal experts unconnected to the trial.

Attorney Tucker Issacson helped craft the brief and explained what was at the heart of the decision. “They gave a jury instruction that they shouldn’t have because it was confusing and redundant, and because the jury could have been confused, they get a new trial on everything.”

Isaacson explains that the case hinges on whether the Red Carpet is, in part, responsible for McGill’s death based on the innkeeper liability statute. “So if you go into a bar, they have to protect you from foreseeable things, from foreseeable damages that could happen. So, if you know that there’s a rough person in the bar, and that rough person hurt somebody, then they [the bar] could be liable for that.”

The 2-1 ruling means the Red Carpet could appeal the case to the Minnesota Supreme Court. They have 30 days to do so, and if they do, it could take another 60 days for the court to decide whether to take the case or not.

Meanwhile, a new date for the retrial of the civil case has yet to be selected.

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