3 acquitted in Chicago club stampede

A judge on Friday acquitted a business owner, manager and promoter accused of manslaughter in a 2003 nightclub stampede that killed 21 people. In his ruling, Cook County Judge Dennis Porter agreed with defense attorneys that prosecutors had failed to show the men played any role in causing the tragedy.

The February 2003 stampede at the E2 club started after someone used pepper spray to break up a dance-floor fight, sending people fleeing down narrow stairs to an exit, authorities said. The force of the bodies piling against the doors prevented them from being opened. More than 50 people were injured.

Acquitted of involuntary manslaughter were club owner Calvin Hollins Jr., his son and club manager Calvin Hollins III and party promoter Marco Flores. Another club owner, Dwain Kyles, is being tried separately and was not affected by Friday's decision, prosecution spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said.

At trial, prosecutors accused the defendants of not doing enough to protect patrons, saying the club didn't have enough exits and those it did have weren't properly marked.

They said videotape showed 1,152 people were in the club _ roughly five times its capacity.

Defense attorneys said nobody could have predicted the mix of factors that led hundreds of patrons racing to the entrance, including a fight involving as many as 40 patrons and a disc jockey imploring security guards to use pepper spray on those who were fighting.

Patrons recalling the September 2001 terrorism added to the panic with yells of Osama bin Laden, anthrax and poison gas, defense attorneys said.

Hollins Jr. said he felt "just totally relieved" after the judge's announcement. "My heart still goes out to the families and individuals that were injured that night that I had nothing at all to do with," he said.

Flores was "elated," his attorney said. "My client was never in control of what happened there. But they were looking for someone to blame," Raul Villalobos said.

Relatives of victims expressed anger.

"We are devastated," said Pam Green, whose niece died at E2. "It was no justice at all. They're going to walk away scot free."

Prosecutor Robert Egan said of the ruling, "We disagree with it, respectfully."

The ruling came when defense attorneys asked the judge for a directed verdict, immediately after prosecutors rested their case and before calling any of their own witnesses.