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Murder Charges Dropped In Fatal Bar Fight

STILLWATER, Minn. (WCCO/AP) -- Murder charges have been dropped against a man accused of killing another man during a bar fight in Stillwater.

Eric Richard won't be held responsible in the death of 29-year-old Adam McCloud.

Prosecutors in Washington County reduced murder and manslaughter charges to first-degree assault after a medical examiner said the cause of Adam McCloud's death was inconclusive.

The 29-year-old Bayport man hit his head on the floor during a fight over a spilled drink at a downtown Stillwater bar last September.

McCloud died at Regions Hospital in St. Paul nearly a week later. Prosecutors say McCloud fell out of his hospital bed and struck his head before he died.

According to a report in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, county attorney Pete Orput said that without the medical examiner's homicide ruling, murder charges would be difficult to prove.

(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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