Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Hearing begins for skate park beatings of two disabled men

Santa Rosa, California - Testimony began yesterday morning (Monday) at a preliminary hearing for five men charged with assaulting, kidnapping and robbing two men with developmental disabilities at a Santa Rosa skate park in April, CBS News reports.
Victim John Doe testified in Sonoma County Superior Court this morning that he was beaten, kicked and hit with a tree branch in a clearing off a path at the Fulton Skate Park on April 26. He said one of his assailants poured beer on his head, another urinated on him and two assailants with knives said they would kill him.
The defendants, Pierre Jacques Guidry Jr., 18, Mark Anthony Echemendia, Reid Rogers, Frederick Caddell Jr., 19 and Bryan Stanley, 21, have pleaded not guilty to the charges and are being held in the Sonoma County jail. According to police, the defendants beat both men and forced one to withdraw money from an ATM machine. Three of the defendants have been charged with additional sexual offenses. The two men were treated at a hospital for their injuries.