The best moments of Anthony Makowski’s life were projected onto a video screen Monday inside Courtroom B of the Pasco County Courthouse.
His parents, choking on their grief, described the family photos. Anthony, small and blond, wearing a cone-shaped birthday hat. Anthony fishing with his dad. Anthony singing the national anthem at a high school baseball game. Anthony in cap and gown.
He was 21 when he died on April 24, 2005, after an early-morning brawl at a McDonald’s in Land O’Lakes. Authorities say he and another man began arguing in the drive-through lane, and the dispute erupted into a fist fight in the parking lot.
Makowski, authorities said, charged at 25-year-old Martin Robles-Taylor, body slammed and battered him until Robles-Taylor got him into a choke hold that killed him. Both men and their friends had been drinking. Investigators determined Robles-Taylor was acting in self defense and did not charge him with a crime.
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