Van Nuys : Man Enters Plea to Beating Charges

Under a plea bargain, a North Hollywood man Monday pleaded no contest to beating up his girlfriend in exchange for the dismissal of a more serious charge of strangling her pet rabbit.

Raphael Diaz Rodriguez, 24, was sentenced to 90 days in Los Angeles County Jail and ordered to pay $200 to the state domestic violence fund and $100 to the state restitution fund. He also was placed on three years probation.

Rodriguez was ordered to attend 104 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and undergo a year of counseling for domestic violence. Rodriguez, who is free on bail, was ordered to begin serving his jail sentence Aug. 4.

Had he been convicted in a trial, Rodriguez would have faced a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine for the battery charge. The cruelty to animals charge carried a stiffer maximum sentence of a year in jail and a $20,000 fine.

Deputy City Atty. Elijah Richardson declined to discuss why a settlement offer was made.

The case drew widespread attention from women’s rights groups, who complained that the discrepancy in fines between the two charges show that crimes against women are not taken as seriously as other types of crimes.

Outside the Van Nuys courtroom, Rodriguez said that the matter was a misunderstanding and that he accepted the plea bargain to avoid a potential longer jail sentence.

Rodriguez was arrested June 23 following a series of domestic violence incidents involving a 29-year-old North Hollywood woman.

The first incident occurred June 10, when Rodriguez allegedly hit the woman in the face during an argument, knocked her into a staircase and choked her.

A second attack allegedly occurred June 21 when the woman told police that Rodriguez took her pet rabbit from its cage, strangled it to death, tossed the body onto her car and then fled.

The third incident was two days later when police arrested Rodriguez.