A 36-year-old felon was charged Tuesday with slashing a former “Real Housewives of Orange County” cast member’s son with a blade while the two were in custody in October.
Jose Jesus Guzman is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 5 at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana on one felony count each of assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a deadly weapon by a prisoner, as well as a misdemeanor count of destroying, erasing or concealing evidence.
Guzman is also accused of inflicting great bodily injury on his alleged victim, 30-year-old Joshua Waring.
The Oct. 9 attack on Waring triggered him to seek to have his bail reduced so he could get out of jail, where he claimed Orange County sheriff’s deputies were incapable of protecting him. That motion was withdrawn last Friday when authorities arranged to house Waring in Santa Ana’s jail as he awaits trial next year on three counts of attempted murder.
Waring’s attorney, Joel Garson, previously said the alleged attack took place at the Intake-Release Center in Santa Ana as Waring was returning to his cell after making a phone call on his legal case. Guzman had been ordered to get back in his cell, as had others in the jail wing, but apparently hid behind some stairs, Garson said.
Waring needed 20 staples, as well as stitches and butterfly bandages on his face, to close his wounds, his attorney said.
Guzman has a lengthy criminal history, according to the complaint in the jail attack case.
He pleaded guilty to domestic battery causing injury with a prior conviction for violence, criminal threats and assault with a deadly weapon on Dec. 24 last year and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Guzman previously pleaded guilty in August 2011 to domestic violence with an enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon and making criminal threats, as well as car theft, evading police and kidnapping; and in April 2003 to buying or receiving a stolen car or equipment.
He was charged last June with a felony count of possession of a deadly weapon by a prisoner and a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest, according to court records.