By Samuel Van Blaricom
SACRAMENTO, CA – At the conclusion of his preliminary hearing this week in Sacramento County Superior Court, in which law enforcement and an eyewitness testified to alleged domestic violence, Deleon Stewart is now set for trial early in 2022.
Stewart is accused of causing corporal injury to his ex-girlfriend, making criminal threats, felony possession of a weapon, child endangerment, and damaging a communication device with the intent to prevent help.
“I would argue that there is no evidence of traumatic condition. I do not believe that scrapes result in a felony condition,” said Assistant Public Defender Dema Stone, referencing the condition of the victim and the severity of the charge.
Deputy District Attorney Mitch Miller brought two witnesses, both officers that responded to dispatch.
Officer Katherine Nishimura presented evidence from her police report that recounted the perspective of the victim. The victim claims she was contacted prior to Stewart’s arrival at her apartment, where he brought a weapon registered to someone else.
The situation escalated until the police were called, where Stewart was apprehended in the parking lot of the apartment complex.
Officer Lindsey Schock gave an account of his own police summary, which was primarily the perspective of the witness, an across-the-hall neighbor.
In Officer Schock’s report, the neighbor claims that she saw the accused hitting the victim 15 to 20 times against the floor and stairway rail outside of their apartment, with their daughter attempting to intercede.
She grabbed the daughter and brought her into her own apartment and closed the door, at which point she claims that the accused threatened her. The details about the altercation in the neighbor’s account are absent from the victim’s description of the event to the police.
After the testimonies, Judge Stacy Boulware Eurie ruled Stewart must stand trial, to begin on Jan. 24, 2022.
