Emanuel Trial Is Delayed : Prosecution Given 2-Day Continuance

Aaron Emanuel’s trial, which had been scheduled to begin Monday in Pasadena Municipal Court, was continued until Wednesday.

Emanuel, a sophomore tailback at USC last season, has pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor battery counts.

He is accused of hitting Sharon Hatfield, a USC track and field athlete, at a party in Pasadena May 3 and knocking her unconscious. He is also accused of pushing a beer bottle into the face of another USC student, Tammy Baird, in a separate incident at a bar near the campus last Dec. 18.

Monday’s continuance was granted by Judge Victor Person at the request of Deputy Dist. Atty. Dave Demerjian, who is busy on another case.

The case is scheduled to be heard by Judge Judson Morris. The trial is expected to take about a week and a half, according to Emanuel’s attorney, Lawrence Elkins, who said he may call as many as 12 witnesses.

Emanuel has been suspended from USC for the fall semester.

After a brief court appearance Monday, Emanuel and his attorney talked with reporters, and Elkins called the suspension “unscrupulous, discriminatory and unfair.”

Emanuel said he will decide after the trial whether he will transfer to another school or re-enroll at USC in the spring.

He said that he and Larry Smith, USC’s new football coach, have talked. “We haven’t had any in-depth conversations, but, yes, we have talked,” Emanuel said. “It’s clear that he wants me to return.”

Emanuel said he has not enrolled at another school. “There have been rumors about that, but they’re not true,” he said.

Emanuel is living with his parents in Quartz Hill, near Palmdale. He said he has a job with a construction company.

“God will see me through this,” said Emanuel, the son of a Baptist minister. “I’m anxious to get it over with. It’s been carried on too long.

“I have a positive attitude. I’m taking things one day at a time. I’m confident the trial will show that things that have been written in the papers are not true.”

Said Elkins: “If the prosecutors had done a thorough investigation, no charges would ever have been filed. They don’t have much of a case.

“We’re talking about putting a man in jail for some nonsense. I’m confident we will come out on top. We’re going to win.”

Elkins has maintained that Emanuel was physically provoked by Hatfield, claiming that Hatfield struck his client and threw beer in his face.