North County : Man to Stand Trial in Acid Attack on Girl

Mark Edward Hand was ordered Thursday to stand trial on charges that he splashed acid on a 4-year-old La Habra girl and her mother while they were on a family outing at a park two months ago.

Judge Dave Bach Jr. set a March 24 trial date for Hand, 26, of Whittier after a 1 1/2-day-long preliminary hearing at North Orange County Muncipal Court in Fullerton.

Hand had pleaded not guilty March 1 to charges of assault with a caustic substance and assault with a deadly weapon stemming from the Jan. 18 attack on Rachel Ogawa and her mother, Elaine, at Los Coyotes Regional Park in Buena Park.

As Rachel and her mother were leaving a restroom following a Saturday afternoon picnic, a man doused the girl with what was later identified as acetic acid. The girl suffered first- and second-degree burns on her face, arms and chest, and was able to return to preschool only last week, according to her father, Gary Ogawa, an assistant professor of pharmacology at the University of Southern California.

At the time of the assault, Hand was under orders to begin a psychiatric evaluation in connection with his parole to California from a prison term he had served in Texas. He was also free on bail for a felony arrest in Los Angeles.