Original publication date :	Tuesday, June 06, 1995
Delivery date :	Wednesday, August 31, 2005 9:28:14 am
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A lawsuit against former Little Rock pharmacist Bruce Leasure was dropped Monday by the family of the man he shot and killed in April 1992. The family plans to refile the suit in federal court.
   The pharmacist said shooting victim Stephen Cole, 40, had just robbed his business by holding a knife to an employee's neck. After the slaying outside Leasure's now-defunct business, Generic Pharmacies at 4500 W. Markham St., Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Stodola decided not to file charges.
   The dead man's family was outraged, contending that wounds in the back and the leg indicated Cole was fleeing when shot.
   But Stodola described Cole's upper wound as being in the chest. Saying Leasure reasonably believed Cole was about to use force, Stodola backed the pharmacist's contention that Cole was advancing on Leasure with a knife from 10 to 12 feet away after turning while being pursued from the pharmacy.
   Jon Cole of Springfield, Mo., Stephen Cole's older brother, said Monday the family dropped its 1993 lawsuit -- set for trial today in Pulaski County Circuit Court -- after discovering there was little chance of winning against the pharmacy's insurance company. The family recently learned that a clause in the insurance contract specified it won't pay if someone is purposely killed.
   "We're not concerned about money. We're concerned about justice," Cole said.
   "If I can get a judgment against him in civil court," he said, "I can have some leverage to get Stodola to reopen the (criminal) case."
   Leasure, now 41, was found innocent by reason of mental disease or defect May 20, 1994, of two unrelated criminal charges -- burglary and attempted arson -- filed after he tried to burn down a state pharmacy regulator's pharmacy July 5, 1993.
   His defense was rooted partly in Cole's shooting death, which Leasure's attorney said marked the beginning of a downward spiral into depression and temporary insanity.
   After his acquittal, Leasure moved to Kentucky, where he had family, and received counseling. He returned to Arkansas in February to try to get his pharmaceutical license reinstated, but the pharmacy board turned him down.
   In April, Leasure filed a federal lawsuit in Little Rock naming more than 100 defendants. It contended he was a victim of a U.S. intelligence conspiracy that included Stephen Cole. A federal judge later dismissed 96 of the defendants.

This story was published Tuesday, June 06, 1995