5 Ordered to Stand Trial for Staging Dogfights : Courts: Videotape taken from Palmdale home shows a bloody clash between pit bulls. It is admitted as evidence.

Following a preliminary hearing during which a videotape was shown of a bloody pit bull fight, five men, including three Edwards Air Force Base sergeants, were ordered Wednesday to stand trial on charges of staging dogfights.

Sheriff’s deputies testified in Antelope Municipal Court that they seized the tape on April 11 from a Palmdale home where organized dogfights were held in the back yard.

A hushed courtroom watched as the dogs--one yellow, one black--clawed and bit at each other for more than 15 minutes, vigorously at first and then more subdued as their faces and haunches became bloodied. The handlers could be heard encouraging their pets by saying things like “good boy” or “that’s my boy” in the tone one would expect to hear if the animal had performed a trick or retrieved a ball properly. Loud party music played in the background.

A sheriff’s deputy said that at least one of two videotapes seized during the raid was apparently shot earlier that day.

Judge Howard M. Swart said there was no question the tape depicted an organized dogfight.

“I could see the blood,” he said. “I could see the dogs going at it. It’s quite disgusting.”

Defense attorneys argued vehemently to keep the tape from being admitted as evidence, stating it was inflammatory and there was little proof it was shot the day of the raid. The attorneys also said only fleeting glimpses of faces were shown, making it hard to prove the defendants were involved.

“We don’t know anything about this tape, other than it shows some animal activity,” argued attorney Michael Medicis.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Evans stated that the tape was relevant because it showed at least partial views of most of the defendants.

Swart ruled the tape was admissible and watched as the dogs confronted each other in a carpeted arena, which became increasingly smeared with blood as the fight progressed. When one dog appeared unable to continue fighting, handlers dragged both dogs to corners, washed them down with water and released them on each other a few moments later.

The growling turned largely into panting and whimpering, especially from the yellow dog, which showed reluctance to leave its corner.

Ultimately, Swart granted a defense request to fast-forward the tape past anything that did not show faces of the men involved.

“Believe me, I don’t want to see the whole tape,” the judge said.

Sheriff’s deputies, who say they acted on an anonymous tip, raided the home of Bobby Lana Auston, 32, about 9:30 a.m. Deputy Sheriff Edward McDonald said he heard dogs yelping in the back yard and saw several people flee by scaling a back-yard wall as he and other deputies entered.

A total of six men were arrested as a result of the raid and seven injured pit bull dogs were confiscated. County animal officials have said the dogs will be destroyed once they “no longer have any evidentiary value,” because they were trained to be vicious.

Deputies said that one of the arrested men, Michael Anthony Garcia, 33, of Rosamond, has confessed that he and the other five defendants participated in a dogfight. Garcia pleaded no contest in June to one felony charge of dogfighting and one misdemeanor charge of observing a dogfight, and could receive up to a year in county jail when sentenced Aug. 8.

In addition to Auston, the men ordered Wednesday to stand trial are Anthony Ray Juniors, 25, of Lancaster, and Edwards Air Force Base Sgts. Frederick Vernard Tate, 23, George Wood, 32, and Russell Gaston Joyner, 32.

Each will go to trial on a felony charge of causing dogs to fight one another, said Deputy Public Defender Mitch Bruckner. If convicted, they could be sentenced for up to three years in state prison on that charge.

Auston, Joyner and Juniors were also ordered to stand trial on a felony charge of possessing an animal used for dogfighting, and Auston faces a third felony charge of allowing a dogfight at his house.