WOODLAND — A Yolo Superior Court judge has upheld all charges filed against a Davis resident in connection with the March 10 beating of a gay man, including hate-crime allegations the defendant’s attorney tried to disprove in court this week.
Clayton Daniel Garzon, 20, is due back in court June 7 for arraignment on felony counts of assault, battery and criminal threats, which Judge David Rosenberg said were backed by a sufficient amount of evidence to move the case forward to trial.
“When considering all the evidence in this case, the court concludes … that the crimes committed in this case were based and motivated at least in part on bias against the sexual orientation of the victim,” Rosenberg said during his ruling Tuesday, the final day of Garzon’s preliminary hearing.
Whether that evidence is enough for a conviction, Rosenberg added, ultimately will be for a jury to decide.
His decision came as welcome news to assault victim Lawrence “Mikey” Partida of Davis, who clasped hands with relatives and other supporters as he left the Woodland courtroom.
“The hate crime (enhancement) was very important to me, because it is a he-said, she-said thing,” Partida, 32, said in an interview with reporters. “But I know what happened, and he knows what happened.”
Witnesses who testified during the preliminary hearing said Garzon repeatedly called Partida “fag” and “faggot” as the victim and his cousin Vanessa Turner left a party celebrating Partida’s birthday on I Street, across the street from the Garzon family home. Partida was attacked when he went back for a forgotten set of keys.
The assault left him hospitalized for nearly two weeks with a fractured skull, bleeding to his brain and other serious injuries, including a nearly two-inch-long piece of fence post lodged near his right eye that required surgery to remove.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Raven contended during his closing remarks Tuesday that Garzon became enraged when Partida thwarted his attempts to talk to Turner, whom Garzon had shown an interest in at the house party.
“Make no mistake — this was not simply a fight between two young men,” Raven said. He alleged that Garzon “snapped” when his masculinity was challenged that night, “not just by another man, but a gay man.”
Defense attorney Linda Parisi, meanwhile, argued there was no proof that her client harbors bias against homosexuals or even had any knowledge of Partida’s sexual orientation.
Her witnesses this week included Garzon’s openly gay uncle, who testified that his nephew has always been accepting and even “protective” of him, as well as a linguistics expert from Brigham Young University who said the word “fag” is more often used to challenge masculinity than to express anti-gay sentiments.
“Obviously I’m very disappointed by the ruling,” Parisi told reporters later. “Mr. Garzon has lived a life that has embraced diversity in all areas, and specifically including one’s sexual orientation.”
Garzon, who has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges, remains free on $520,000 bail while his case is pending.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene