Continued: Justice or vendetta? Ruling comes 19 years late

Nineteen years ago, retired car dealer Owen Lynch was gunned down at his North Minneapolis home.

Glenn Greene, who was 17 at the time, pleaded guilty to pulling the trigger and remains locked up.

But the man accused of putting the gun in Greene's hand and driving him to Lynch's house, Patrick Carline, was acquitted of first-degree murder in a later trial, a verdict that hasn't gotten any easier for Lynch's oldest son to reconcile.

"You think after time things don't bother you? It doesn't go away," Mark Lynch, the oldest of Lynch's 12 children, said this week.

A year ago, Mark Lynch, now 64, filed a civil lawsuit in Hennepin County District Court against Carline for his father's death. The standard of proof in a civil case is lower than the criminal requirement of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

In late August, a jury determined that a "preponderance of evidence" showed that Carline "willfully and wrongfully" caused Owen Lynch's death on Sept. 8, 1989. The jury awarded the Lynch family survivors $300,000 in compensatory damages.

But District Court Judge John McShane reversed a decision he had made earlier in the trial and declined to let the jury consider punitive damages against Carline, who maintains he had nothing to do with the killing.

The Lynch family attorney in the case, Richard Malacko, will ask McShane to reconsider today. If McShane rules against them again, Mark Lynch said he intends to ask the state Court of Appeals for a new trial so a jury can consider punitive damages.

A civil lawsuit after a criminal acquittal is unusual, despite similar high-profile cases such as those involving O.J. Simpson and actor Robert Blake. Most murder defendants are indigent, so there is little point in pursuing a case for monetary reward.

But Mark Lynch said he needed to do something. "To get some money is great, but to get it on the public record is important," he said.

The lawsuit isn't the only action Mark Lynch has taken. He has moved back to Minneapolis from Chicago, where he lived and worked in real estate and as an actor and raised his own children. He's now a courier driver and is working on a play and possibly a book about his father's murder.

He also recently visited Greene in Stillwater prison and spoke with him for more than five hours. He said he was impressed that Greene has taken responsibility for his actions, but called him Carline's "pawn."

He is weighing another meeting. "If there is some way I could help the guy, he's on the right track, I'd do it," Lynch said.

About 20 years ago, Carline owned Variety Shop on West Broadway and Owen "O.J." Lynch was an owner of Viking Chevrolet. The two were occasional business partners.

After Greene entered his guilty plea to second-degree murder in 1990, he told the court that he was high on marijuana when Carline picked him up from school and drove him to Lynch's house to rob him.

He said he didn't intend to kill Lynch. But when Lynch said he only had $2 in his wallet, Greene said he wanted $5,000. Lynch grabbed him and Greene said in court that he began firing the gun.

Carline, who is now retired and lives in Fridley, called the lawsuit "blatantly unfair. After 19 years, they brought it up."

But a jury determined Carline had a role.

McShane announced his reversal on punitive damages just before the jury returned with a verdict. He said no evidence or testimony in the one-day trial showed that Carline authorized Lynch's murder, so he could not ask the jury to consider punitive damages.

Compensatory damages are given to cover loss of companionship and support. Malacko said all of Lynch's children were grown and financially independent when their father was murdered so support wasn't an issue.

In determining punitive damages, a jury can consider how much a defendant is worth and whether he has been punished for the crime.

Malacko argued that Carline's conduct showed "deliberate disregard for the rights and safety of others."

McShane said he didn't find Malacko's position "tenable," and then dismissed the jury after the verdict was read.

The trial amounted to Malacko presenting Greene's testimony from the criminal trial. Greene declined to testify in this trial. Carline, who represented himself, did not testify.

Carline said he intends to appeal the verdict. He said he didn't know about today's hearing and doesn't plan to attend.

Even if Mark Lynch and his siblings prevail, Carline said he has no income other than Social Security. He has a house, but added: "That's not even in my name, so I don't know what they're going to get out of this. It's just harassment."

He noted that he was acquitted of the murder by a jury.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747