More than two years after a deadly late-night confrontation outside a Santa Monica bar, the man once charged with killing the establishment's manager is fighting back in court. Leonard Hector Korpie, a 28-year-old Venice resident, filed a civil lawsuit in Santa Monica Superior Court accusing Los Angeles County and the City of Santa Monica of malicious prosecution and civil rights violations tied to the death of Jaysent Clark, the 50-year-old manager of Jameson's Pub who died on June 12, 2024.
Korpie filed his complaint on Friday, August 28, seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, according to MyNewsLA.com. The lawsuit centers on a physical confrontation that occurred near the pub in Santa Monica after Korpie was ordered to leave with two other men. Police contended that Korpie punched the bar manager, but Korpie has denied ever returning any punches during the encounter.
His attorney, Adam M. Koppekin, has said Korpie shoved Clark only after Clark punched him in the head first — a account that directly conflicts with the version police presented publicly at the time. Koppekin has said he truly believed Korpie did nothing wrong, and following the dismissal of the case last year, he said justice had finally prevailed.
A Single Punch, Two Very Different Accounts
Santa Monica Police initially arrested and booked all three patrons involved in the altercation into the Santa Monica Jail before investigators narrowed their focus to Korpie as the sole suspect who delivered the punch, according to a statement from the City of Santa Monica. When officers arrived at the scene at approximately 12:05 a.m. on June 11, 2024, Clark was not breathing, prompting officers to perform CPR until Santa Monica Fire Department paramedics arrived to take over emergency care.
An unnamed police lieutenant defamed Korpie after his arrest, the lawsuit alleges, referencing public remarks that form the basis of Korpie's claims against the city. That lieutenant, identified elsewhere as Lt. Erika Aklufi, told reporters in June 2024 that Korpie punched the manager once and that no physical violence had occurred prior to that assault, as reported by Patch. The same lieutenant said alcohol-related incidents can turn minor events into life-changing events affecting many lives.
Following his arrest, Korpie's bail was set at $2 million by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, underscoring how seriously prosecutors initially treated the case. Immediately after the incident, Santa Monica Police issued emergency SMAlert notifications shutting down Main Street between Hill and Ashland avenues to traffic from 12:35 a.m. until nearly 6 a.m., illustrating the scale of the police response in the Main Street commercial corridor.
Medical Examiner Cited Heart Disease and Ruled It a Homicide
The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner concluded that Clark had a number of medical issues and that his death resulted from cardiac arrhythmia during the altercation, affecting a heart with chronic atherosclerosis. Despite identifying the pre-existing heart condition as a factor, the medical examiner classified the manner of death as a homicide, a ruling published on October 5, 2024.
That finding became central to the criminal case. Judge Kathryn Solorzano, who presided over a September 2024 hearing, found sufficient evidence to require Korpie to stand trial on a voluntary manslaughter charge, and Korpie remained charged with voluntary manslaughter and awaiting trial for roughly a year afterward.
Charges Dropped, Then a Lawsuit
The turning point came when prosecutors announced in September 2025 that they were unable to proceed with the case. Judge Solorzano formally dismissed the voluntary manslaughter charge against Korpie on Monday, September 8, 2025, after the prosecution's announcement, according to the same account. Korpie was cleared of the homicide charge nearly a year before he filed his civil complaint.
Now, Korpie has sued the City of Santa Monica and separately sued Los Angeles County for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations, arguing the initial police account and prosecution wrongly cast him as the aggressor. Judge Bradley S. Phillips has scheduled a case management conference for February 26, 2027, in Santa Monica Superior Court, setting the next milestone in the civil proceedings.
A Steep Legal Climb Against Government Defendants
Suing public entities for malicious prosecution in California is notoriously difficult. Under California Government Code Section 821.6, public employees and government entities generally hold statutory immunity against malicious prosecution claims tied to their official duties, according to the Renne Public Law Group.
That immunity, however, is not absolute. A 2023 California Supreme Court ruling in *Leon v. County of Riverside* narrowed the shield, holding that it does not broadly protect officers from all injuries inflicted during police investigations. Whether that narrower reading of the law will help Korpie's case against Los Angeles County and Santa Monica remains an open question the courts have yet to decide.
