LAGUNA HILLS

Two teens charged in the Nellie Gail attack that almost blinded a 19-year-old college student will appear in court July 5 for their long-awaited preliminary hearing.

Joshua R. Jarrett, 19, of Lake Forest is charged with assault likely to produce great bodily injury, and Nathan M. Cooper, 19, of Aliso Viejo is charged with assault with a deadly weapon--his hands and feet.

The pair were arrested in late March after three months of interviews with more than 150 eyewitnesses who attended he late-night Dec. 28 party where the attack occurred.

The victim, a 19-year-old UC Santa Cruz freshman, was confronted outside the party and circled by a group of men who knocked him unconscious with punches and several kicks to the head, said Sgt. John Smiertelny of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, who supervised the investigation.