Pair Plead Not Guilty in Assault on Day Laborer

A butcher and a baker from Carlsbad pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Vista Superior Court to charges that they handcuffed and assaulted a 26-year-old undocumented alien outside a rural market in January.

William E. Zimmerman and Randy Ryberg, employees of the Country Store on El Camino Real in Carlsbad, made their pleas before Judge Ronald S. Prager, who ordered them to reappear April 2 for pretrial proceedings.

Each man faces a felony charge of false imprisonment by violence in connection with the attack on Candido Gayosso Salas, a migrant farm worker from Mexico who regularly solicited day labor outside the isolated store.

The two had at first faced a second count--a misdemeanor civil rights violation--but a municipal judge struck down that charge earlier this month, saying not enough evidence was presented at the preliminary hearing to show that the attack was racially motivated.

Judge Michael Burley suggested that prosecutors instead file a misdemeanor battery charge in the case, a move that brought strong public reaction throughout North County, where makeshift migrant encampments often sit within view of new housing developments.

Investigators allege that the men handcuffed the laborer and placed a paper bag on his head. On the bag was drawn a clown’s face and a Spanish phrase that translates roughly, “Don’t come back.”

On Tuesday, members of a group called Concerned Citizens of Carlsbad said they plan to monitor the case because they are concerned about such treatment of migrant workers. The FBI has also said it will forward developments in the case to the Justice Department in Washington for possible filing of civil rights charges against the two men.

Deputy Dist. Atty. George McFetridge said his office does not plan to contest Burley’s decision by refiling the misdemeanor civil rights charges in Superior Court.

However, the La Raza Lawyer’s Assn., a group representing Latino lawyers in San Diego County, on Tuesday criticized Burley for condoning such “hate crimes.”

“It was apparent by any version of the facts that this hate crime was perpetrated on Candido Salas as a means to torture him and to scare, terrorize and intimidate other Mexican nationals who frequent the store where these two men are employed,” association chairman Manuel Ramirez said in a statement.

“The association believes that Judge Burley’s decision was grossly improper, and its motivation should be questioned and challenged.”