The Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse in Downtown Long Beach.
The Gov. George Deukmejian Courthouse in Downtown Long Beach. File photo.

A Long Beach man pleaded not guilty today to charges stemming from the stabbing death of 28-year-old Christopher Finley outside the Mineshaft bar in September.

Michael Smalls, 56, was charged on Sept. 14 with one felony count of murder in connection to Finley’s death and another count of attempted murder for the stabbing of Finley’s partner, Jake Stone.

Police said the couple was in front of the Mineshaft Bar, a well-known LGBTQ bar on Broadway, the night of Sept. 9 when a man armed with a Taser showed up. Stone said they were trying to disarm a man with a Taser outside the bar when another man, whom investigators later identified as Smalls, rode up on a bicycle and attacked. Smalls then allegedly fled the scene on a bicycle. Authorities rushed Stone and Finley to the hospital, where Finley later died.

Smalls was arrested a few days later at his Fourth Street apartment, located just a mile away from the bar. It is still not clear what may have prompted the alleged attack.

He remains in jail in lieu of $3 million bail, inmate records show.

Police arrest man suspected of stabbing couple outside of Mineshaft bar