SAN MARTIN
– On Wednesday the county district attorney’s office formally
charged the 20-year-old Gilroy man arrested in connection with a
recent gang-related beating and stabbing for assault with a deadly
weapon – a reduction of the attempted murder charge Gilroy police
originally arrested the suspect for
Friday night.
SAN MARTIN – On Wednesday the county district attorney’s office formally charged the 20-year-old Gilroy man arrested in connection with a recent gang-related beating and stabbing for assault with a deadly weapon – a reduction of the attempted murder charge Gilroy police originally arrested the suspect for Friday night.
Gerardo Ortiz Magana, a reputed gang member and a current parolee, was arrested by police shortly following a stabbing that occurred near the Pacheco Pass Motel on East Eighth Street Friday evening.
Representatives from the district attorney’s office could not be reached for comment on the charge, although police said it is not unusual for prosecutors to tame charges in a gang-related case due to both the suspect’s and victim’s lack of cooperation with the investigation and subsequent evidence needed for conviction.
Magana’s victim, whose name has not been released by police, is expected to fully recover from his wounds, according to police.
Magana is still being held in county jail, although his bail has been reduced from $100,000 to $20,000 with the new charge. He will be back in court to enter a plea on at 1:30 p.m. on May 6 at the South County Courthouse in San Martin.
Also in the same courtroom to enter a plea at the same time that day will be Nicholas Seibert, the 22-year-old Gilroy man in custody for his part in a bloody road rage incident that closed down a good portion of the westbound Highway 25 to U.S. 101 northbound on-ramp Saturday afternoon.
Seibert is also charged with assault with a deadly weapon for striking a Hollister man in the head with a glass bottle several times following a driving dispute. Seibert remains in the county jail in San Jose on a $20,000 bail.
The 31-year-old Hollister man involved in the incident, Jesse Maramba, will appear in court at 9 a.m. on May 13 to enter his plea for the charge of assault with a deadly weapon. Maramba, who stabbed Seibert with a pocket knife several times during their confrontation, is free on bail.
