Two men pleaded not guilty Friday to assault and other charges in the beating of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office said.
Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood are scheduled to appear in court July 24 for another pretrial hearing, a district attorney spokeswoman said.
The men were ordered two weeks ago to stand trial after a six-day preliminary hearing that included dramatic testimony from witnesses, including the chilling moment when Stow's skull hit the pavement. A recording of Norwood admitting to his mother that he was "involved" in the opening-day beating also was played in the courtroom.
Two men are scheduled to be arraigned Friday on charges that they brutally assaulted San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium in 2011.
Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood to were ordered to stand trial two weeks ago, after a six-day preliminary hearing that included dramatic testimony from witnesses. Among other things, the witnesses recalled the chilling moment when Stow's skull hit the pavement as well as a recording of Norwood admitting to his mother that he was "involved" in the opening day beating.
Stow, a 43-year-old father of two, suffered serious head trauma and remains in a therapeutic facility. The incident drew national attention and calls for police, city officials and the Dodgers to tighten stadium security and better protect fans.
On the first day of the preliminary hearing, prosecutors showed a video of Norwood sitting in an interrogation room, speaking to his mother on an LAPD detective's cellphone.
"Hey, I got arrested for that Dodger Stadium thing," the 31-year-old says. "I was involved .... To a certain extent I was."
He tells his mother he can't say much over the phone but says Louie Sanchez, 30, is also in custody.
Norwood then apologizes: "Pretty sure I'm going down for it.... I'm sorry."
Other witnesses testified that the beating was unprovoked.
Joann Cerda, who witnessed the assault from a distance, said the Giants fans kept trying to walk away, but the two male Dodger fans "kept throwing hands in the air and making gestures like they wanted to fight."
The family of Bryan Stow praised Los Angeles police and the Los Angeles County district attorney's office for their efforts in the case against two men accused in his beating.
"We will continue to thank and praise them for all their dedication and hard work, regardless of the outcome, even after this is long over," the family said on its website. "Obviously we want justice, but that wouldn't even be possible if it weren't for all that has been put into it."
The family said that because of the continual updates from authorities, they are able to focus their energy on Stow "and not think too much about this case."
"We put our faith and trust into everyone involved and we know that it is important to them as well to see justice prevail in the end of all this," the family said.
Their comments come after Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge George Lomeli found a "strong suspicion" that Marvin Norwood and Louie Sanchez committed the brutal assault and ordered the men to stand trial.
Friday's decision capped a six-day preliminary hearing that included dramatic testimony from witnesses who recalled the moment when Stow's skull hit the pavement as well as a recording of Norwood admitting to his mother that he was "involved" in the opening day beating.
The 11-year-old son of one of the suspects in the Bryan Stow beating case told police his father kicked the Giants fan in the neck during a parking lot assault at Dodger Stadium, according to transcripts of a secret jailhouse recording.
The transcripts were released Friday after a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ordered suspects Marvin Norwood and Louie Sanchez to stand trial in the beating on opening day 2011 that left Stow severely brain damaged.
In a conversation between the two suspects, Norwood tells Sanchez that Sanchez's son, nicknamed "Porky," told police "everything."
The two suspects in the beating of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow said during a secretly recorded jailhouse conversation that they expected to serve "a lot" of prison time in the attack and needed to devise a good defense.
The jailhouse recording was played during the preliminary hearing on Thursday, but was unintelligible. On Friday, a prosecutor read portions of the transcript from the recording.
In it, suspect Louie Sanchez asks: "How much time do you think we are going to get?"
Both are charged in the brutal opening day 2011 assault at Dodger Stadium that left Stow, a paramedic, severely brain damaged.
Later Norwood says: "I'm gonna fry regardless, bro. They pretty much got it. They got it, bro. Needlessly, we need to come up with a ... good defense."
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has ordered Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood to stand trial on charges that they brutally assaulted San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium in 2011.
The decision caps a six-day preliminary hearing that included dramatic testimony from witnesses who recalled the chilling moment when Stow's skull hit the pavement as well as a recording of Norwood admitting to his mother that he was "involved" in the opening day beating.
Stow, a 43-year-old father of two, suffered serious head trauma and remains in a therapeutic facility. The incident drew national attention and calls for police, city officials and the Dodgers to tighten stadium security and better protect fans.
On the first day of the preliminary hearing, prosecutors showed a video of Norwood sitting in an interrogation room, speaking to his mother on an LAPD detective's cellphone.
"Hey, I got arrested for that Dodger Stadium thing," the 31-year-old says. "I was involved .... To a certain extent I was."
Testimony is set to resume Friday in the preliminary hearing of two men suspected of brutally beating San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow in the Dodger Stadium parking lot.
Dorene Sanchez, the fiancee of one suspect, Marvin Norwood, and sister of the other, Louie Sanchez, is expected to continue testifying. The 32-year-old Rialto woman was booked alongside the men as an accessory after the fact for driving them from the ballpark, but she began cooperating with prosecutors, who subsequently opted not to pursue charges against her.
In the courtroom Thursday, Sanchez revealed herself as crucial to the government's case despite having a clear desire to help the men prosecutors are trying to convict. The final witness in a hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to proceed to trial, she offered a perspective no other witness could -- the view from inside the alleged getaway car.
She recalled her brother with panic in his voice, screaming for her to "get ... out of here!" and said she saw blood on the hand of Norwood.
"I said, 'Babe, what the hell?' And he said, 'Don't worry about it, babe,'" she recalled.
The alleged getaway driver in the Bryan Stow beating case is expected to take the stand Thursday during the preliminary hearing for two men charged in the assault.
Dorene Sanchez, who was arrested in connection with the attack but not charged, is the sister of suspect Louie Sanchez and the girlfriend of suspect Marvin Norwood.
Though Dorene Sanchez provided key testimony against the suspects during grand jury proceedings, prosecutors said in their decision not to charge her that they could not prove she knew about the beating when she drove the men home from the Dodgers' opening day game against the San Francisco Giants on March 31, 2011.
During court proceedings Wednesday, a witness testified that Stow was attacked after he used medical slang to express disgust with local fans taunting his group of San Francisco Giants supporters.
A friend and fellow paramedic quoted Stow as saying "I hope they code" — shorthand for suffering cardiac arrest — of Dodger fans profanely jeering him and three friends as they left the game.
The preliminary hearing for two men accused in the brutal beating of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium last year will resume Wednesday after three days of proceedings last week.
The hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence for Marvin Norwood, 31, and Louie Sanchez, 30, to stand trial on felony charges, including mayhem and assault in connection with the March 31, 2011, attack.
Stow, a 43-year-old father of two, suffered serious head trauma and remains in a therapy facility.
The hearing opened May 30 with a dramatic video depicting Norwood in an LAPD interrogation room, speaking to his mother on a detective's cellphone.
"Hey, I got arrested for that Dodger Stadium thing," the 31-year-old said. "I was involved.... To a certain extent I was."
Norwood then apologized: "Pretty sure I'm going down for it.... I'm sorry."
Later that day, seven witnesses testified that Sanchez appeared inebriated at the game and harassed a pair of Giants fans throughout, throwing peanuts and a soda on the couple.
Testimony picked up the next day from three woman who saw various parts of the parking lot attack, which they said appeared unprovoked. They described two male Dodgers fans as the attackers but could not positively identify Sanchez or Norwood.
Witnesses to the assault on Bryan Stow in the Dodger Stadium parking lot recalled the horrific sound of bone against concrete, but were unable to identify the suspects in a police lineup as the attackers.
Three witnesses took the stand Thursday on the second day of a preliminary hearing to determine if prosecutors have sufficient evidence to try Louie Sanchez, 30, and Marvin Norwood, 31, for the beating on March 31, 2011, that left Stow with permanent brain damage and unable to walk or talk.
Their accounts demonstrated the strengths and potential weaknesses in the case against the men. All portrayed the two Dodger fans who attacked Stow as the aggressors, but none could positively identify Sanchez or Norwood as punching or kicking him.
Megan Duffy identified Norwood from a police lineup as being present at the scene. But she told police she could not identify the man who punched and kicked Stow because she had seen his face only in profile.
Duffy, said she jumped into her car after hearing "a thud, like someone's head smashing against pavement."
"When Bryan was being kicked, was he defending himself at all?" asked Deputy Dist. Atty. Michele Hanisee.
"No, he wasn't moving," Duffy said.
Another witness, Joann Cerda, said she believed Stow was dead after his skull struck the ground.
"It was a really loud, almost echo-ish," she recalled.
More witnesses from the parking lot attack are expected to testify when the preliminary hearing resumes Friday afternoon.
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