A 19-year-old man accused of beating a great- grandfather with an aluminum bat when the senior citizen tripped and fell on top of the suspect’s car is no longer facing an attempted murder charge.
But he’ll still face a slew of other charges at his next court appearance scheduled for May 3.
At the conclusion of a preliminary hearing for Samuel Elijah Alvarez, Judge Kathleen Roberts dismissed the attempted murder count, which included a sentence-enhancing allegation of premeditation and deliberation, which would mandate a life sentence.
The Santa Ana resident, who’s being held on $102,500 bail, will still face assault with a deadly weapon, battery with serious bodily injury and possession of a deadly weapon charges, all felonies, along with sentence-enhancement allegations of causing great bodily injury on an elder and personally using a deadly weapon.
Alvarez’s attorney, Michael Garey, said video of the assault was shown to the judge multiple times during the preliminary hearing that concluded Friday. He declined further comment.
A representative of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office could not immediately be reached.
The Feb. 7 attack on the 71-year-old victim took place at a 76 gas station at 4502 Westminster Ave. about 7.25 p.m.
As he was walking out of the station, Jose Chacon of Santa Ana tripped and fell on top of Alvarez’s car, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.
Alvarez got out of the car and the pair argued. He then allegedly got an aluminum bat out of his vehicle and began charging at Chacon, who went to get a small pipe out of his truck to protect himself, according to police and prosecutors.
When Alvarez raised up the bat in a threatening manner, the victim swung the pipe at the defendant, but missed, prosecutors allege. The defendant allegedly struck the victim with the bat on his body and then slammed it on his head, causing him to fall down.
Prosecutors said the victim sustained three jaw fractures that required him to undergo surgery and have his mouth wired shut, along with four loosened teeth, bruises to his left arm and scrapes to his hand. His daughter said he also required stitches in his face, which was so severely bruised as to make him unrecognizable.
Alvarez, who was ordered to return to court May 3 for arraignment, also faces separate misdemeanor charges of hit-and-run with property damage and driving without a valid license stemming from a Sept. 4 crash, according to court records.
Alvarez is acused of rear-ending another vehicle at Harbor Boulevard and Trask Avenue in Garden Grove about 10:10 p.m. that day, according to Garden Grove police Lt. Bob Bogue.
Alvarez allegedly drove off without exchanging information with the other driver, but police were able to track him down because the front bumper, containing the license plate, was left at the scene of the crash, Bogue said.
— Wire reports