WOODLAND — A Davis hate-crime case set for trial later this month may be resolved with a plea agreement.
Clayton Daniel Garzon, 20, is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 23 for the March 10 beating of Lawrence “Mikey” Partida outside his cousin’s I Street home. Prosecutors allege Garzon targeted Partida because he is gay.
During a trial-readiness conference Friday in Yolo Superior Court, the attorneys in the case held a sidebar discussion with Judge David Rosenberg for several minutes. Afterward, Rosenberg said he would keep the trial date intact but set another readiness conference for Sept. 17.
“I am optimistic of resolution in light of our discussions,” Linda Parisi, Garzon’s attorney, said in court. She added that she would unlikely be ready for a trial by Sept. 23 if no agreement is reached, though Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Raven said he was “ready and prepared to go.”
Both Raven and Parisi declined to go into specifics about their plea-agreement talks.
“Plea bargaining is a dynamic situation, so we’re talking about a lot of different things,” Parisi said after Friday’s hearing. “I’m hopeful that we can arrive at a fair resolution on the 17th, and if not then we would be prepared to go to trial.”
Garzon has pleaded not guilty to felony counts of assault, battery and criminal threats, as well as enhancements alleging infliction of great bodily injury and that the attack constituted a hate crime. He remains free on $520,000 bail while his case is pending.
Rosenberg ruled there was sufficient evidence for Garzon to stand trial on the charges at a May preliminary hearing, where witnesses testified that Garzon hurled anti-gay slurs at Partida as he and his cousin Vanessa Turner left a party at the I Street house, then assaulted Partida when he went back for his forgotten keys.
Raven contended that an intoxicated Garzon became enraged when Partida, 32, thwarted his attempts to talk with Turner as they left the party.
Parisi, meanwhile, argued there was no proof her client harbors an anti-gay bias. Her witnesses included an openly gay uncle who testified that Garzon had always been “protective” of him, as well as a linguistics expert who said Garzon likely used the slurs to challenge Partida’s masculinity, rather than as a reference to his sexual orientation.
Partida’s mother, Gloria Partida, said her family has mixed feelings about a possible plea deal in the case. She said while her son has expressed anxiety over the prospect of testifying in court, he also wants to speak out about the impacts of the attack.
The beating left Mikey Partida with extensive injuries including a fractured skull and bleeding to his brain that required him to be hospitalized for two weeks and undergo daily rehabilitation therapy following his release.
“There are certain things that are very, very important to Mike, and he’s not willing to back down,” Gloria Partida said in an interview Friday. The family is hoping for a plea agreement that keeps both the hate-crime and great bodily injury enhancements intact.
“Nothing is guaranteed if you go before a jury,” Gloria Partida noted. “I’m feeling like I would be happy if it felt like we were getting justice, even though I don’t feel like anything is going to make up for what he has gone through.”
Garzon also is due to go trial in Solano County in connection with a September 2012 knife assault at a Dixon house party. A trial readiness conference in that case, for which Garzon is charged with assault with a deadly weapon, is set for Oct. 17, according to online court records.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene