February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Monaghan, who’s from County Meath, was recently acquitted in the San Francisco Superior Court of more serious murders charges.
He had been on trial for the murder of Lionel Viollat, who was thrown overboard during a Halloween party in San Francisco Bay in October of last year. Monaghan’s lawyers claimed he acted in self-defense when he was attacked by Viollat.
The district attorney has the option of filing to try Monaghan again on the lesser charges. He has been in custody since his arrest last October, with bail set at $5 million. Brendon Wen, one of two attorneys acting for Monaghan, argued that at this stage the $5 million bail was “nothing more than a publicity stunt” on behalf of the District Attorney’s office to convey the image that his client was a dangerous criminal.
“It does not matter, if the bail is $5 million, or $5, my client would still be held in custody because of immigration issues,” Wen said.
Leaving the court, the lawyer for the District Attorney’s office, Anna Gonzalez, refused to answer questions from the press about whether her office will retry the case.