On February 27, 2015, 28-year-old Edward Newhouse was stabbed to death during a fracas in the parking lot of the BFE Bar and Grill near Waynesboro, Georgia. Thirty-one-year-old Dustin Steen, who was shot and wounded, drove off, but crashed his car a short distance away.
Steen survived the shooting. He was placed under arrest that night. On April 30, a Burke County grand jury indicted him on a charge of malice murder and possession of a weapon, a knife that was recovered in the parking lot of the bar.
In February 2016, Steen went to trial in Burke County Superior Court. He contended he acted in self-defense after the owner of the bar shot bear spray into his face during the parking lot fight.
The prosecution said Steen was sprayed only after he began stabbing Newhouse.
After prospective jurors were questioned, the judge had a bench conference with the prosecutor and the defense attorney. There was continued questioning of prospective jurors, followed by another bench conference.
The questioning and the bench conferences were recorded by a court reporter.
The jury was then sworn in and the judge explained on the record that the conferences were “about some jurors, and by agreement, we agreed to excuse two jurors…” Steen was not present for the bench conferences.
According to the evidence, on the day of the crime, Steen and his friend Nicholas Malcolm, iron workers at the nearby Alvin W. Vogtle nuclear plant, grilled food and drank whiskey and beer after work, then went to the bar.
Malcolm began talking politics with strangers, while Steen sat at the bar, spinning a skeleton-framed, camouflage-patterned knife upon the bar top. Malcolm, who on a prior occasion had walked out without paying his tab, became increasingly loud and obnoxious, using racial slurs at patrons, prompting April Salemi, the bartender, to tell him to leave. When Malcolm refused, she reported him to the bar’s owner, Mike Vandenbuckle, who also ordered Malcolm to leave. Malcolm protested, but Steen pushed him out the door.
A video surveillance camera showed them stumbling out the door, falling to the ground. Steen pushed Malcolm forward, and as they staggered through the parking lot towards Steen’s car, Malcolm continued yelling at bar patrons, some of whom had walked outside. Steen repeatedly yelled, “Let’s go home!” and “Get in the car!”
Among the group who came out of the bar were Vandenbuckle and Newhouse. As Malcolm continued to berate the crowd, Newhouse began to taunt him, prompting friends to restrain Newhouse.
Malcolm, who was over 6 feet tall and weighed about 250 pounds, then asked Steen, who was 6 inches shorter and 185 pounds, if he was ready to fight. At that point, Steen and Malcolm advanced toward Vandenbuckle. In response, Vandenbuckle put his hand on his gun, and said, “If you don’t leave, I will shoot you.”
Steen backed off, walking to his car, telling Malcolm, “Get your ass in the car.” Malcolm ignored him and continued yelling. Finally, after Steen yelled at him three more times to get into the vehicle, Malcolm finally got into the car, but then he got right back out, took off his shirt, and continued to cajole Vandenbuckle and the patrons to fight.
Steen got out of his car and said words to the effect of “If I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do it. Now get in the f------ car!”
Suddenly, Newhouse, who was 6 feet tall and weighed 250 pounds, charged past Vandenbuckle and took a swing at Steen. They then locked up in a street brawl.
What happened next would be disputed.
Witnesses testified that the bar’s cook, Austin Lamour, stepped in to try to break up the fight, but when he saw Steen stabbing Newhouse, he stepped back.
Vandenbuckle testified that when Lamour stepped back, he saw Steen pull a knife and begin stabbing Newhouse, so he emptied a can of bear mace in Steen’s face. Vandenbuckle said that someone in the crowd yelled, “Knife! Knife! Knife!” At that point, he drew his .40-caliber pistol and began shooting. One of the bullets hit Steen in the buttocks.
Malcolm yelled at Steen to leave. Steen got into his car and drove off, only to crash a few hundred yards down the road., Malcolm tried to render aid to Newhouse, but he died of his wounds.
At trial, the State presented the testimony of Malcolm, Salemi, Vandenbuckle, and other witnesses. The defense contended that Steen acted in self-defense.
One of the patrons, Robert Coffey, testified that Steen pulled out the knife first, and then was hit by the bear spray.
Salemi, the bartender, testified that she did not see how the fight started, but that in the parking lot, she saw that Steen had Newhouse in a headlock. In her statement to police right after the incident, she had said that Newhouse was the aggressor and came at Steen. However, Steen’s lawyer failed to cross-examine her on the differences between her police statement and testimony.
A medical examiner testified that Newhouse had a total of seven cut wounds and ten stab wounds, one of which pierced both ventricles of his heart, causing his death.
Malcolm testified that Steen was a “belligerent drunk” and that Steen was drunk that evening.
Throughout the trial, there was at least one bench conference that took place concerning a material matter relating to a juror. Steen was not present for that bench conference.
Steen testified and disputed the prosecution witnesses’ accounts. He contended that a group of men followed Malcolm and him out of the bar, threatening them, and that while he was trying to persuade Malcolm to get in the car and leave, Newhouse ran up and punched Steen in the face. According to Steen, “[By the t]ime I hit the ground . . . they were on me.”
He testified that he was “instantly” sprayed in the eyes with mace, struck in the head and the back, and shot in the back. He said that only then did he draw his knife to defend himself, believing that his life was in danger.
On February 24, 2016, the jury convicted Steen of malice murder and possession of a weapon. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
During hearings on a motion for new trial contending that Steen’s trial lawyer had provided ineffective assistance of counsel, Steen’s appellate attorney presented testimony from Jake Kirkland and Josh Munn. Both said that they were willing to testify at the trial that Steen had a reputation for honesty while Malcolm did not.
The motion for a new trial was denied.
In October 2021, the Georgia Supreme Court remanded the case to the trial court for a hearing on Steen’s claim that his right to be present was violated when he was not included in the bench conferences. In September 2024, Steen’s convictions were vacated on that basis.
In September 2025, he went to trial for a second time with new defense lawyers, Jordan Price and Ian Puczkowski. The prosecution witnesses again testified that the bar’s cook, Austin Lamour, had stepped back when he saw Steen with a knife, and that’s when Steen was hit with the bear spray.
Lamour, who had not testified at the first trial, testified that as he was trying to break up the fight, Vandenbuckle sprayed Steen, prompting Steen to take out his knife. That was when Vandenbuckle shot him, Lamour testified.
Price also used the video surveillance footage to contradict the prosecution witnesses’ accounts that Steen was the aggressor.
Price also presented evidence that there was a second camera with a better view of the fight, but footage from that camera had not been preserved.
Vandenbuckle was not called as a witness at the retrial because he had a prior unrelated perjury case.
On September 26, 2025, the jury acquitted Steen and he was released.
In October 2025, Steen filed a claim for compensation from the state of Georgia. On February 27, 2026, Judge Ronit Walker denied the claim. Judge Walker ruled that Steen had not provided sufficient evidence to show that he was acting in self-defense, and therefore failed to satisfy the compensation requirement that he show that he was actually innocent.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 05-21-2026
