Charges filed against neighbors of gay man acquitted of kidnapping

SOUTH SALT LAKE — The tables have turned for a group of South Salt Lake residents who allegedly beat up a gay neighbor and his partner after they suspected one of the men had kidnapped two children.

Seven former neighbors were charged Tuesday with attacking David James "DJ" Bell and his partner, Dan Fair, in their home after a late night party on July 4, 2008. The charges range from aggravated assault to giving false information to police.

This no doubt is a welcome reversal for Bell, who has repeatedly pushed for criminal charges against those who allegedly attacked him. In January, he marched into the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office with a group of his friends again requesting that criminal charges be brought against the people he said attacked him and Fair almost two years ago.

For a long time, prosecutors had regarded Bell as the bad guy.

He was put on trial in September 2009 on two counts of child kidnapping and burglary. A jury acquitted Bell of all counts after a four-day trial and after less than three hours of deliberations. Bell had faced a minimum of 31 years in prison if he had been convicted.

Bell and Fair were not available for comment Tuesday. But Susanne Gustin, who represented Bell during his trial, said both men are pleased by the turn of events.

"They are happy about the seriousness of the charges," she said. "They have waited a long time for this day to come."

Gustin said that during Bell's trial, she felt like she was representing a crime victim rather than a criminal defendant.

As for Fair, "he was minding his own business, he was asleep during the events that night — he's even more of a victim." Gustin said Fair also suffered severe injuries when he was beaten: "His doctor could not believe he was alive."

A relieved and triumphant Bell said after the trial that he and Fair had never harmed the children. Bell also said he never lured the youngsters into his bedroom — which is something one neighbor testified she had personally observed.

Instead, Bell maintained that he and Fair were the victims of a mob of drunken partygoers.

Bell sustained a mild traumatic brain injury, cuts on his feet and a permanent partial hearing loss in one ear because of the beating.

Bell said that the only thing he did that summer night was provide glasses of Kool-Aid to two neighbor children, ages 2 and 4, when they followed him from their house to his home next door and asked for something to drink. Bell said the boy and girl stood in the doorway drinking the punch.

Bell had been at the neighbor's home for much of the night at their invitation and had gone back to his house to get more mixer for alcoholic drinks for adults.