UPDATE: Clayton Garzon has posted bail and was no longer in Yolo County Jail custody as of Thursday afternoon.
WOODLAND — Clayton Daniel Garzon found himself jailed for the third time in two weeks Wednesday after a Yolo Superior Court commissioner boosted his bail in a Davis beating case to $520,000 — exceeding the half-million dollar figure requested by prosecutors.
“This case is quite concerning to me,” Commissioner Janene Beronio said after Gloria Partida, mother of Lawrence “Mikey” Partida, described in court the extensive injuries her son suffered in the March 10 assault on I Street.
The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office has charged the incident as a hate crime, adding the enhancement to felony counts of battery, assault and criminal threats, to which Garzon pleaded not guilty. Authorities say Partida, 32, was targeted because of his sexual orientation.
Calling Garzon a “serious public safety risk,” Beronio ordered the 20-year-old Davis resident to be placed under intensive supervision by the county Probation Department if he posts bail, including GPS monitoring and a device that would detect whether he’s consumed any alcohol. Garzon also was ordered to have no contact with Partida.
As his family and friends looked on from the rear of the courtroom, a court bailiff immediately handcuffed Garzon and delivered him to the Yolo County Jail, where he remained in custody as of this morning. His next court date is April 12.
Beronio also exonerated the $75,000 cash bail Garzon’s family posted within a few hours of his arrest in the case on March 14, which defense attorney Linda Parisi said may be put toward a bail bond.
Gloria Partida praised Beronio’s decision as she walked out of the courtroom.
“I feel like the judge really understood the severity of the incident, and I felt very validated for my son,” she said.
Garzon’s family left the courthouse quickly and without comment. Parisi said she was “disappointed the bail was raised to that level,” given that her client does not pose a flight risk.
Wednesday’s hearing followed a series of court filings in Garzon’s case that began last week when the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office, citing its filing of “strike” offenses and a second assault case pending against Garzon in Solano County, filed a motion to increase his bail and move up his mid-April arraignment date.
Parisi countered this week with an opposition motion that noted Garzon’s cooperation with law enforcement and included letters from a gay uncle, neighbor and family friend who asserted that the young man was raised to embrace diversity and tolerance.
In court Wednesday, she dismissed the anti-gay slurs Garzon allegedly hurled during the attack as slang terms that “occur quite commonly” among young people in today’s society.
“It is certainly not an expression of hate,” Parisi said. She called the beating “a very tragic event.”
But Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Mount contends the Davis incident showed a pattern of violent behavior that began last fall when Garzon was arrested on suspicion of stabbing several people at a Dixon house party. His assault case is still pending in Solano County, where Garzon was jailed briefly last week after a judge raised his bail to $25,000.
“What is particularly disturbing is the commonality of the crimes,” Mount told Beronio during Wednesday’s hearing. He said Garzon not only committed the brutal acts, but went on to brag about them — to a gas station clerk in Solano County, and while pounding on the door of Partida’s cousin’s house in Davis.
Mount also said both incidents were “fueled by alcohol,” causing the underage Garzon to become “violent and out of control.”
Parisi said her client has stopped drinking and entered a program to address the addiction. She also said Garzon’s family would ensure his continued sobriety.
But the pledge fell flat with Beronio.
“That’s a pretty hollow promise,” she replied.
She then set the $520,000 bail figure, starting with $75,000 for the battery and assault charges — which Mount said stem from the same conduct — and adding $45,000 for the criminal threats count and $400,000 for the enhancements alleging that Garzon committed a hate crime and a felony while free on bail.
Beronio also cited the level of violence alleged in the case, as well as “the extensive injury to the victim.”
Mikey Partida was discharged Saturday from an acute rehabilitation center in Sacramento, where he spent just over a week after being transferred from the UC Davis Medical Center. The Davis man’s injuries included a fractured skull, bleeding to his brain and a broken eye socket.
“He’s had some good days and he’s had some bad days. I’m looking forward to him continuing to recover,” Gloria Partida said.
Earlier Wednesday, about a dozen of Partida’s supporters gathered outside the courthouse with T-shirts, signs and bracelets that said, “Stop Hate.”
“From the moment this happened I had energy,” organizer Jon Adler of Davis said of the effort. “I have so much anger in me over this, I had to do something to turn this energy into something positive. I’m going to continue until my anger subsides.”
“It’s really love versus hate here,” added Jordan Torres, who lives down the street from where the beating occurred. “Violence is just not acceptable, with anything or anyone.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
