Trial begins for man charged with fatal 2015 stabbing at Patsy’s Irish Pub in Laguna Niguel

More than four years after an argument at a Laguna Niguel bar ended with one man stabbed to death and another on the run, trial has begun for the reputed white supremacist gang member accused of carrying out the killing.

As opening statements in the trial of Craig Matthew Tanber began Wednesday in a Newport Beach courtroom, the fact that Tanber stabbed 22-year-old Shayan Mazroei to death over Labor Day Weekend in 2015 was not in dispute.

Instead, jurors were tasked with deciding whether Tanber, 41, prepared himself to stab Mazroei as he exited the bar, or whether Tanber acted in self-defense.

Tanber and Mazroei had never met prior to their fatal encounter at Patsy’s Irish Pub, a bar located near Crown Valley Parkway and Golden Lantern. Both men were there to play pool. Mazroei, a bar regular, was with a friend, while Tanber was with his then-girlfriend, Elizabeth Thornburg.

Both Senior Deputy District Attorney Mark Birney and Tanber’s attorney, Alisha Montoro, agreed that the confrontation between Tanber and Mazroei actually began with an argument involving Thornburg and Mazroi.

The prosecutor told jurors that Thornburg asked Mazroei his name, then made derogatory comments about his Middle-Eastern heritage. The defense attorney countered that Thornburg simply asked Mazroei his name to determine how many people were between them on a sign-up sheet for a pool table, and denied that she made any racial comments.

A short time later, as Mazroei and Thornburg smoked cigarettes outside the bar while Tanber was inside using a restroom, the argument continued. Thornburg spit on Mazroei several times, the prosecutor said, while Mazroei responded by spitting on her once. The defense attorney alleged that Mazroei also flicked a lit cigarette at Thornburg.

Both attorneys acknowledged that an angry Thornburg chased Mazroei back into the bar. Tanber exited the bar restroom as Mazroei, who was using a pool table to keep a distance from Thornburg, called to a bar bouncer he knew by name. The bouncer escorted Tanber and Thornburg out of the bar.

Birney told jurors that, after being kicked out, Tanber ranted and raged at the security guard for more than five minutes, making several mentions of having a knife and wanting to stab someone.

“Fair to say, Mr. Tanber becomes enraged,” Birney said. “He is angry. His girlfriend has been spit on in front of a bunch of people in a bar.”

Montoro told jurors that it was Mazroei who was looking for a fight, but was initially stopped by his friends. Tanber was trying to calm himself down, the defense attorney said.

“Craig Tanber did not go out looking for trouble,” Montoro said. “Trouble found him.”

The bouncer walked away to help a bartender, at which point the attorneys agreed that Tanber opened a door to the bar, motioned to Mazroei and yelled “You!”

The prosecutor said Tanber then stepped back and waited for Mazroei outside the door.

“He has prepared himself with his knife,” Birney told jurors.

The security footage captured Tanber punching Mazroei in the face as he walked out the bar door. Mazroei then moved back toward Tanber, before suddenly staggering back into the bar and collapsing to the ground.

The prosecutor said Tanber, after the initial punch, stabbed Mazroei twice – first in the chest, puncturing his heart, then in his right shoulder blade.

The defense attorney acknowledged the punch by Tanber and the stabbing. But in between the two, Montoro alleged that Mazroei hit Tanber back, causing Tanber to act in self-defense.

“He is afraid for his safety, he is afraid of Mazroei, he is afraid of (Mazroei’s) friends who are in the bar,” Montoro said of Tanber. “He used a knife to defend himself and it ended in tragedy.”

Tanber fled after the stabbing, eluding police for several days before he was found at a Garden Grove motel. Deputies located the knife used in the killing next to a windbreaker Tanber was wearing in shrubbery next to a pet store near the bar, Birney said.

Tanber had been released from prison only three months prior to Mazroei’s death, having served six years behind bars after taking a plea deal for the killing of a Laguna Niguel man.

Tanber in 2007 admitted to helping kill 26-year-old Cory Lamons, who had been beaten to death with a claw hammer for stealing money from the former girlfriend of a gang member before his body was left in the bed of a pick-up truck in Huntington Beach. A subsequent murder trial ended in a mistrial due to juror misconduct, and Tanber ended up pleading guilty to a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

After Mazroei’s death, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office faced pressure, including from the National Iranian American Council, to charge Tanber with a hate crime. Prosecutors declined, determining there wasn’t enough evidence to warrant hate crime charges.

A Santa Ana jury in a 2017 civil trial found that Patsy’s Irish Pub was not at fault for Mazroei’s death, despite his parents allegations they had failed to provide a properly-trained security guard. The jury found that Tanber should pay the bulk of a $6 million civil judgement to Mazroei’s family, though parties to the lawsuit have acknowledged the likelihood of the family receiving a significant amount of money from Tanber is low.

Thornburg has been charged with being an accessory after the fact to Mazroei’s killing. Prosecutors allege she picked up Tanber around the corner from the bar and drove him to a residence in Mission Viejo. She has denied the charges, and is being tried separately from Tanber.