Ten-Year Prison Term for Oceanside Bar Fight

By Eva Knott, Dec. 6, 2011

An Oceanside man agreed to a ten-year prison term in a plea deal today, admitting to the assault of a man who died from a single punch to his head in an Oceanside bar on September 26, 2010.

The original murder charge against Bruce Erwin Hamil Jr., 36, was dismissed at the end of a preliminary hearing earlier this year. Video surveillance from Hosie’s Pacific Pub showed Hamil delivering a single blow to Willie Hoyle, 53; he dropped to the floor and never got up again. Hoyle was declared brain-dead the same night, but kept on life support for two days “to harvest the organs,” according to testimony from a county medical examiner

At the time of his death, Hoyle had a blood alcohol level of .17 and a tattoo that read, “born to raise hell,” according to testimony at a preliminary hearing. In the video, Hoyle was seen walking with a pool cue toward the bar where Hamil was standing, having a beer with two friends. Hoyle and Hamil had brief words and then the younger man decked the older one.

Prosecutor Jodi Breton alleged that Hamil has a habit of getting into violent fights, and the defendant did admit to a 1998 conviction for a previous felony assault, a strike. The current case will also be counted as a violent felony and strike, according to judge Daniel Goldstein.

Pictured: Hosie’s Pacific Pub, Oceanside

Photo by Bob Weatherston

Visduh Dec. 6, 7:56 p.m.

One thug slugs another thug, and that thug dies. Typical bar fight, and an illustration why anyone with an ounce of sense doesn't go to bars like that one. Oh, but I'm being unfair--it is just a "friendly" local hangout for the beach crowd, filled with "friends" who just ooze bonhomie. Straight out of a TV sitcom, with all the pleasant outcomes of misunderstandings, NOT.

Can someone tell me why, in a simple, garden-variety killing like this one, the resolution comes more than a year after the crime? There was a time when capital cases (those with a death penalty) were fully resolved in about four months.