Stephen Rossi, of Burlingame, was sentenced to four years in prison yesterday on involuntary manslaughter charges. Last September Rossi, 28, head-butted another man so hard that the victim went through the plate glass window of a bar and consequently died - the fermoral artery was severed in the victim's leg causing him to bleed to death. Stephen Rossi pled no contest to the felony charges of assault by means of force and involuntary manslaughter.
Rossi did not know Declan Faharty, the victim, very well. According to the defense, Rossi was trying to prevent a fight between Faharty and another man.
The altercation with Rossi was the third fight Faharty had been involved in that evening at Behan's Irish Pub on Broadway in Burlingame. Both Rossi and Faharty were intoxicated at the time, according to police reports. After a heated argument, Rossi head-butted Faharty in the chest. Faharty fell through the bar window and bled to death after the plate of glass struck his leg.
Rossi pled no-contest to a judge in August because his chances did not look good in a jury trial, according to Defense Attorney Josh Bentley. Bentley said he hoped for a one-year sentence for Rossi.
"My hope and what my goal was - Rossi was a serious alcoholic who needs severe rehabilitation, and I wanted a lengthy county jail sentence and two-years in an alcohol rehab program," said Bentley.
The only past criminal record Rossi had is a misdemeanor battery charge in 1996 and a DUI in 1991.
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