Ex-Power Ranger released from jail after no charges filed; DA requests further investigation

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- No charges were filed on Tuesday against former Power Ranger, Ricardo Medina Jr., and the district attorney has requested further investigation from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Medina, 36, was released from custody at about 1 p.m., according to the Sheriff's Information Bureau.

"I want to say I am very, very, very sorry for what occurred. I'm very happy to be out of jail and my heart goes out to the Sutter family. Thank you," Medina said following his release.

Friends say the actor fatally stabbed his roommate, 36-year-old Joshua Sutter, with a sword in self-defense at their Green Valley home in the 38000 block of San Francisquito Canyon Road on Saturday afternoon.

The two men were involved in an argument, which turned into a fight. Medina told detectives that he had retreated to his bedroom with his girlfriend, but that Sutter barged in. Medina allegedly grabbed a sword that he kept by his bed and stabbed Sutter in the stomach.

"There simply aren't facts here for a crime. It is a self-defense case. It's been a self-defense case. You have an individual here that was the victim of a beating in the kitchen area before he went to the bedroom and closed and locked the door in order to secure himself from any continuing violence," said Allen Bell, Medina's attorney.

After Sutter collapsed, Medina called 911, stayed at the scene and waited for help. Sutter was taken to a hospital, where he later died, and Medina was booked on suspicion of murder at the Palmdale Sheriff's Station.

Photos of the crime scene, given to Eyewitness News, by Rachel Kennedy, Sutter's sister, show just how bloody and gruesome the deadly encounter was. She says the crime scene photos taken by the cleaning crew she hired show no apparent damage to any of the doors.

Kennedy doesn't believe Medina's claim that it was self-defense and says her brother was well aware Medina is an expert at martial arts.

"I just don't feel he would go and attack someone that he knows could take him down. Who does that? No one. He knew Rick's skills," Kennedy said.

Kennedy says she is mortified that her brother's killer was released without a single charge.

"He should absolutely pay for this one way or another," Kennedy said. "I won't give up, and I won't let my little brother's voice ever be stopped. I will speak for him and fight for him forever."