Marine Denies Assault on Clerk

A Marine Corps recruiter pleaded not guilty Thursday to attempted murder and assault charges, and his lawyer said the former boxer’s alleged beating of a supermarket clerk was in self-defense.

Sgt. Juan Antonio Rodriguez, 29, of Irvine has been restricted to the U.S. Marine Corps base in El Toro following the April 27 incident that left Larry Lamar Hatch, 22, of Garden Grove in a coma. Rodriguez appeared in North County Municipal Court in full uniform, under escort by two fellow Marines and accompanied by his wife, Joanne.

Police say Rodriguez argued with Hatch and several other workers who had finished their shift at the Albertson’s supermarket in Anaheim and were drinking beer in a parked truck. Police allege that Rodriguez left, then returned with three other Marines from the nearby recruiting office and began punching Hatch in the head.

Hatch was knocked unconscious and fell to the pavement, suffering severe head injuries, police said. He underwent emergency brain surgery and remains in Los Alamitos Medical Center.

The hospital had no comment on his condition Thursday.

“He’s hanging in there,” said Hatch’s 24-year-old brother, Phil. “He’s not conscious, but he’s not unconscious.”

Phil Hatch said that his brother cannot speak and that doctors have not given the family a prognosis. He said the family had anticipated that Rodriguez would plead innocent but he dismissed as “silly” the assertion that Rodriguez had punched Hatch in self-defense.

Police described Rodriguez as being 6 feet, 1 inch tall and weighing 212 pounds. They said the 5-foot, 7-inch and 145-pound Hatch fell unconscious almost immediately.

“This case is going to boil down to a self-defense issue,” said Rodriguez’s attorney, Dennis O’Connell. Rodriguez has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, namely his fist, but O’Connell said the Marine’s boxing prowess had been exaggerated.

“He tried out for the boxing team in El Toro and didn’t make it,” O’Connell said.

“Just because you are educated in the art of self-defense doesn’t mean you waive the right to self-defense,” the attorney added. “If you are attacked, you can use those skills to make sure that you are not harmed.”

O’Connell declined to elaborate on how Rodriguez was acting in self-defense, saying only, “That’s going to be an issue: What happened when he went back?”

A pretrial hearing for Rodriguez was scheduled for June 7, and a preliminary hearing has been set for June 14.