In July 1993, Lausevic entered into a quarrel with a group of local youths, together with his brother. This escalated into a fist fight, culminating in Lausevic firing multiple rounds from his handgun, killing two of the youths and seriously wounding one. Sentenced by a Montenegrin (republic) court to prison initially, his conviction was overturned by the Yugoslav (appellate) court on the grounds that the first-instance court had improperly dismissed Lausevic's self-defense argument, and the punishment was drastically reduced. Lausevic served 4 years and 7 months in prison before his release. But he faced further legal battles. There were appeals by the Montenegrin prosecution, numerous retrials and inconsistent, ad hoc rulings by the Montenegrin court system. In 2001, the prison sentence was reinstated to 13 years by the Montenegrin courts.
