A 41-year-old Fullerton ex-con who has a swastika tattoo on his right shoulder and a prior mayhem conviction is scheduled for a court hearing next week on hate crime charges for allegedly punching a man while yelling a racial slur.

Tyson Theodore Mayfield was charged with committing a hate crime by assaulting and injuring the victim, who he approached in a commercial parking lot on Monday, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

Mayfield is accused of becoming agitated because the victim did not have a lighter the suspect could borrow.

He then called the victim, who is Filipino and Turkish, a racial slur before repeatedly punching him.

A witness called police and officers arrived and placed Mayfield under arrest.

Mayfield faces a sentencing enhancement if he is convicted in this latest case because of a 2008 mayhem conviction in Orange County. Details of that prior conviction were not available.

Mayfield is scheduled to have a pre-trial court hearing on Sept. 15 in Fullerton.

–City News Service

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