Assault Trial Ordered for Marine

FULLERTON — A Marine accused of attacking a man he was trying to recruit in a grocery store parking lot three months ago was ordered Friday to stand trial on assault charges.

Orange County Municipal Judge Ronald P. Kreber, closing out a two-day preliminary hearing that began last week, set a Superior Court arraignment date of Aug. 16 for Sgt. Juan Rodriguez, 29.

At the preliminary hearing, Kreber heard from several witness who testified that Rodriguez, a former boxer, punched 22-year-old Larry Hatch twice in the head in an Anaheim parking lot on April 27, leaving him bleeding and unconscious on the pavement.

An official Marine recruiter, Rodriguez tried to enlist Hatch, of Garden Grove, and a couple of his friends for the service as they drank beer in the parking lot, but was angered by the cool reception he got, the witnesses testified. The attack was unprovoked, they asserted, but Rodriguez’s attorney has promised to show at trial that his client in fact acted in self-defense.

Rodriguez has been confined to the El Toro Marine base pending the outcome of his case. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison as well as possible discharge from the Marines. Hatch, the victim, is recuperating in the hospital, his family said.