The family of Cary Owsley is announcing a new addition to their legal team in a federal lawsuit against Bartholomew County officials. They have announced that the civil rights law firm of Loevy and Loevy of Chicago will be taking up their case.
The family has filed a federal lawsuit against then-Sheriff Mark Gorbett, Coroner Larry Fisher and six deputies over the way the investigation was handled in Owsley’s April 2013 shooting death. Owsley’s death from a gunshot wound to the chest was ruled a suicide by Fisher. That ruling has been challenged by some members of Owsley’s family, who believe that a cover-up over how he actually died may have taken place. They have been fighting Fisher’s ruling since shortly after Owsley’s death.
At the time of his death, Cary Owsley was married to Lisa Janes Owsley, who was divorced from Sheriff’s Deputy DeWayne Janes. Deputy Janes was the first deputy on the scene and handled evidence including the handgun which killed Owsley — a gun that Janes had given to his son, who lived with the Owsleys.
Earlier this year, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI found no grounds for charges of civil rights violations.
The local officials cited in the federal lawsuit have sought to have the case thrown out because they claim Logan Owsley did not have standing to sue on his father’s behalf.
According to our news-gathering partners at The Republic, Owsley’s son Logan recently was awarded control over the lawsuit, which was considered as property of his father’s estate.