Long Beach : Mayhem Sentencing Set for Man Who Bit Off Ear

A San Pedro man is awaiting sentencing in Long Beach Superior Court for biting off the ear of another man during a bar room fight, the prosecutor said. Cornelio Martinez, 33, was convicted of mayhem last week by a Long Beach jury for biting off the upper two-thirds of Anthony Lopez’s left ear, Deputy Dist. Atty. Amy-Hannah Broersma said.

The scuffle began around closing time one night in September, 1988, when one patron pushed another patron off a bar stool, Broersma said. Martinez and Lopez joined the fight and a brawl ensued. “Then,” Broersma said, “a hush fell over the bar as moments later they realized the ear had been detached.”

Under the law, “slitting” the ear of another is mayhem, punishable by up to eight years in prison. In Martinez’s case, prior convictions for rape and grand theft have increased the possible maximum term to 15 years, the prosecutor said. Sentencing is scheduled Jan. 24 before Superior Court Judge Michael Nott.

As for the ear, “a friend of the victim did have the foresight to scoop it up and give it to paramedics,” Broersma said. It was reattached with two surgeries, she said.