Two Morgan Hill residents accused of a hate crime for allegedly
assaulting a pregnant Morgan Hill woman last month have had their
preliminary hearing postponed until Sept. 27. Neither has entered a
plea on the charges.
Two Morgan Hill residents accused of a hate crime for allegedly assaulting a pregnant Morgan Hill woman last month have had their preliminary hearing postponed until Sept. 27. Neither has entered a plea on the charges.
Nicole Agriesti, 21, and Charles Peralta, 24, appeared in San Martin Superior Court Tuesday sans the red prison garb usually reserved for suspects facing murder charges. The pair, who are reportedly dating, could have faced murder charges if the unborn child of the woman they allegedly attacked outside her Morgan Hill apartment had died. As of Tuesday afternoon, the woman had not miscarried her child.
Prosecutors requested continuing the preliminary hearing until 1:30pm Sept. 27 with agreement from the defendants’ attorneys.
Agriesti and Peralta are accused of assault resulting in serious bodily injury, with a special hate crime enhancement, after a fight broke out in the parking lot of the Cochrane Village Apartments on July 21 allegedly arising from an argument after the two ran over groceries belonging to the 34-year-old Xochitl Calderon.
Calderon was two months pregnant at the time of the attack. She and witnesses told police Agriesti and Peralta shouted racial epithets at her as they used their fists to hit her repeatedly in the abdomen and arm and kicked her.
Calderon also told police she asked the two suspects to pay for her groceries; Peralta, she said, threw a penny at her and called her a “wetback.”
Peralta and Agriesti told police Calderon had instigated the confrontation by kicking the side of their car.
Calderon said doctors originally gave her unborn child a 10 percent chance of survival.
Agriesti, who has not made a statement herself, also sustained injuries in the fight, according to her attorney Mark Arnold. He said she and Peralta were defending themselves against Calderon rather than attacking her.
Both are free on $100,000 bail.
