CINCINNATI -- The Japp’s bar manager who was attacked in Over-the-Rhine in June will have to wait for her case to proceed.
Jen Watts was prepared to confront her suspected attacker, Lucien Lanier, Wednesday morning in court, but the case has been delayed because Lanier has a new attorney.
Lanier faces a felonious assault charge; he’s accused of punching Watts so hard in the face that she cracked her skull on the pavement near a parking lot on Sycamore Street. Watts had to have brain surgery after the attack.
Japp's proprietor Molly Wellmann said Watts is “one of the most hardworking people in Cincinnati and in this industry.”
Wellmann stood beside Watts in court Wednesday. She said she’s disappointed Watts will have to prepare to face Lanier all over again.
"Just in the last week of hearing that this is going to be be today and the amount of support and uplifting and strength that needed to go into just coming in today was huge, so to have to do it again is heartbreaking,” Wellmann said.
According to police, Lanier, 33, has "a long history of felonious assaults, drug trafficking and domestic violence arrests." He had been "observed being very disorderly in front of Tree House Bar" before the attack on Watts.
