STARKVILLE — A civil lawsuit against 21 Apartments’ ownership may go forward after the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled the complex could be held liable for failing to warn Andreas Galanis of his roommate’s alleged violent tendencies.
Bobby Batiste, the roommate, was convicted of murdering Galanis in 2008, and the victim’s family went on to sue the apartment complex’s owners for failure to provide a reasonably safe premises, failure to warn about the violent tendencies and failure to perform adequate background checks.
Oktibbeha County Circuit Court and the Mississippi Court of Appeals previously ruled that the language of a resident concern form filed by Batiste sometime after October 2006 against a previous roommate was insufficient to prove the tendencies, but the state’s highest court ruled against the findings.
“I can’t take it anymore. I don’t want to get violent,” Batiste wrote in the 17-sentence complaint about his former roommate’s cleanliness. “I hope this (gets) resolved soon because I really don’t want to take matters (into) my own hands.”
21 Apartments also denied Batiste’s application for a lease renewal in 2007 after a background check showed he had a criminal history, Thursday’s ruling states, “but after Batiste’s attorney explained that Batiste had failed … because of an ongoing, nonadjudication probation for felony credit card fraud, and that a nonadjudication was not the same as a conviction, 21 Apartments allowed Batiste to renew his lease without conducting any additional background check.”
The Associated Press previously reported court records showed Batiste pleaded guilty in 2004 to credit card fraud in Kemper County.
Attorneys for the apartment complex previously argued Batiste’s prior actions did not indicate he would commit murder, the AP also reported.
Galanis was matched as a potential roommate for Batiste, who was without a roommate, in August 2007 by the apartment complex, the ruling states, based on their similar age and love of football.
The previous roommate complaint, it states, was not disclosed at the time they met and mutually agreed to live together.
In March 2008, Galanis discovered a large sum of money missing from his bank account.
The 28-year-old’s body was found a day after he alerted the authorities of the incident.
During the murder trial, Batiste said Galanis threatened to shoot him over the missing money and then attacked him with a sword. A fight ensued, and Batiste said in his statement he put a rim adjuster in a backpack and used it to strike Galanis three or four times in the head.
Bloodstains were found in at least three rooms in the apartment, with splattering covering portions of the walls and ceiling.
Officials alleged Batiste attempted to clean the crime scene before law enforcement arrived. He admitted in a videotaped statement he was about to place Galanis in a vehicle and leave the scene until a sheriff’s deputy arrived.
A jury convicted Batiste of capital murder after three hours of deliberation.
He was sentenced to death. The now-35-year-old remains behind bars at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.