Suspect In St. Patrick's Day Killing Of Laguna Niguel Man Is Dead

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — Prosecutors Tuesday dismissed a case against a former Marine who pleaded guilty in connection with a deadly St. Patrick's Day fight, because the defendant died of a drug overdose.

Jack Griffin Isaacson, who had been facing a felony count of involuntary manslaughter, pleaded guilty July 14, 2023, to a felony count of battery with serious bodily injury. He was scheduled to be sentenced July 12 of this year, but the hearing had been put off as the records were sought to confirm his death.

Isaacson died June 3 in San Diego, where he was living with his father. The death certificate indicated the cause of death was fentanyl and cocaine toxicity.

Before he died, the sentencing was postponed for legal technical reasons to allow for the felony count to be reduced to a misdemeanor, his attorney John Barnett said last year. Isaacson began serving a six-month term of home confinement on Aug. 10 of last year.

Isaacson, who had been stationed at Camp Pendleton at the time, punched 38-year-old Michael Terry of Laguna Niguel, who was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead the next day, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Deputies were dispatched to Beach Harbor Pizza at 34473 Golden Lantern about 7 p.m. on St. Patrick's Day 2022 when the two men got into a fight, sheriff's officials said. Barnett said Terry was drunk and was acting aggressively toward customers when he got into a conflict with Isaacson, who is a boxer, Barnett said.

City News Service