SANTA ANA, Calif. — A jury in Dept. 51 of the Central Justice Center began deliberating whether the accused is guilty of simple assault and battery following testimony that raised questions about who initiated physical contact during a confrontation at a Santa Ana shopping center.
In the incident at a shopping center in Santa Ana on Feb. 26, 2025, the accused allegedly attacked a security guard, pressing him up against a wall. The security guard reported feeling like his “life was about to end right there.”
The security guard responded to a call about a man bothering a woman, her dog and her two adult children outside of a deli in Santa Ana. After talking to the family and coming outside the deli with the family behind him, the accused attempted to approach the group again to continue the conversation.
The security guard told the accused the family did not have time to continue talking, and he raised his left arm, as he had been taught in his training, to create a barrier between the accused and the family. The security guard told police that his “left arm locked him [the accused].”
According to the security guard, after putting his arm up to act as a human shield between the accused and the family, the accused got angry. The assistant DA brought up security guard statements to police in which he described the accused “snapping,” and although the ADA wanted the security guard to describe what this snapping looked like in real time, the security guard was unable to describe the situation without using metaphors and imagery, and Judge Stephen J. McGreevy struck the question.
The deputy public defender, defending the accused, built the defense around the fact that the security guard made contact with the accused first. When the security guard raised his arm to act as a human shield, his elbow touched the accused’s chest, which was the point at which the accused allegedly snapped and allegedly attacked the security guard.
When the deputy public defender asked the security guard if he made first contact during the altercation while on the stand, the security guard said no. The deputy public defender then had the security guard read the testimony he gave to officers at the scene, stating that he touched the accused first.
Officers at the scene asked if the security guard pushed the accused, and he told officers, “No, I held my ground.” He also told officers, “First I did self-defense on him… I touched him on his chest… no, I put my left arm on him first.”
Eventually, the witness agreed he did touch the accused first, and that his original statement to officers was correct. Despite this acknowledgment, the deputy public defender asked several more times throughout the trial if the security guard touched the accused first, and he continued denying it despite his original testimony.
The judge informed the jury of the laws and rights the accused has. The jury deliberated after lunch on whether to find the accused guilty of count 1, section 915, simple assault, and count 2, section 920, simple battery.
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