Dodger Stadium Beating Suspects Will Stand Trial

Two men were ordered Friday to stand trial for the beating of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow in a Dodger Stadium parking lot on opening day last spring.

Louie Sanchez, 30, and Marvin Norwood, 31, both of Rialto, are charged
with one felony count each of mayhem, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and battery with serious bodily injury.

Sanchez is additionally charged with a misdemeanor count of battery
involving a run-in with a female Giants fan and a misdemeanor battery count for
allegedly swinging his fist at a young man in another group of Giants fans in
the parking lot after the game.

Both men were ordered by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George G.
Lomeli to return to court for arraignment on June 22.

Stow suffered a skull fracture that resulted in the loss of a portion of his skull as well as damage to his brain, according to a stipulation signed by attorneys from both sides and read in court.

Stow is ``unable to walk, has loss of motor skills in his arms and hands, is unable to carry on a normal conversation, unable to control his bodily functions and unable to care for himself due to diffuse, severe, traumatic brain injury,'' according to the document. ``Bryan Stow will require skilled long-term care and daily assistance for the remainder of his life.''

Prosecutors contended in court papers filed last summer that Sanchez
initially shoved Stow, followed the Bay Area paramedic after he and his friends
walked away and that Sanchez punched him in the side of the head and that both he and Norwood kicked Stow after he was knocked unconscious.

Along with the charges in state court, Sanchez and Norwood are charged
in federal court with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Weapons recovered from the garage attic crawl space at Norwood's home
included a Bushmaster assault rifle, with scope and magazine attached; a Marlin
semi-automatic rifle; a Mossberg semi-automatic shotgun loaded with five rounds of 12-gauge ammunition and other handguns, according to an affidavit filed by a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Norwood said in an interview with police that the weapons belonged to
Sanchez but that he kept them at his home because ``Sanchez does not have a
place to store the guns,'' according to the affidavit, which was filed in
support of the federal criminal complaint.

Testifying Thursday during a nearly six-day preliminary hearing, Sanchez's sister, Dorene -- who is engaged to Norwood -- testified that she saw her brother and her fiance involved in a confrontation with Giants fans in the parking lot and then disappear into the crowd before returning to her car and
telling her to drive away.

Dorene Sanchez said the pair were away from her white 2005 Acura for
four to five minutes and that the two each came back and instructed her to
drive out of the parking lot after the opening day game on March 31, 2011.

She said she noticed that Norwood had blood on the inside of his right
palm.

In other testimony, a woman who was in Lot 2 on opening day identified
Sanchez as the man she saw kicking Stow in the head after he fell unconscious
to the ground.

Mary Dolores Donley testified that she chose Sanchez during a July 2011
lineup as the man she had seen kicking and trying to swing at Bryan Stow after
he had already fallen to the ground.

Donley -- who approached the scene with her husband after hearing a man
yelling a profanity -- said she heard Stow "hit the ground and it was a sound
I never heard before,'' describing it as a "horrible noise.''

She said she saw Stow's assailant kick him once in the head and that the
man also tried to take a swing at a seemingly unconscious Stow as the father
of two was on the ground face-up with blood coming from his ears.

When asked if she saw the man in court that she identified in the photo
line-up, she indicated it was Sanchez.

"The one that had kicked Bryan Stow in the head?'' Deputy District
Attorney Beth Silverman asked.

"Yes,'' she responded.