Salt Lake County prosecutors are taking another look at the case of two gay men who were severely beaten after one of them, David James Bell, allegedly kidnapped a neighbor's children.

In August, prosecutors cited a lack of evidence and declined to file assault or burglary charges against the suspects in the attack, who are related to the children. But now, attorneys are again reviewing the beating, particularly the alleged attack on Bell's boyfriend, Dan Fair.

Prosecutors are now reviewing the case "under different theory," said Deputy District Attorney Alicia Cook. She said no new facts have come to light.

Bell is charged with kidnapping two children while at a South Salt Lake neighbor's late-night Fourth of July party. He told police he found two children, ages 2 and 4, awake and fussy, and took them over to his house so they could sleep on the couch.

The children had already been removed from Bell's home by the mother of one of them when three to five adult relatives, who were unaware they were safe, broke down a door and beat the two men, according to Bell's defense lawyers.

Bell's throat and toe were sliced with broken glass, and his head was slammed on the sidewalk. Fair, who has not been charged, was also beaten and a large TV was thrown onto his head.

Bell's defense lawyer, Susanne Gustin, calls the beating a hate crime and said Fair was an innocent victim.

"He had absolutely nothing to do with anything that happened that night. He was asleep in his bed and he almost ended up dead," she said.

The kidnapping case against Bell is scheduled for trial in April.

A decision on whether to file charges against the neighbors will not be made "anytime soon," Cook said. Meanwhile, South Salt Lake City attorneys have not decided whether to file misdemeanor charges in the case.

lwhitehurst@sltrib.com