Preliminary hearing for a Morgan Hill couple accused of
assaulting a pregnant woman continued until March 9
Morgan Hill – A 14-year-old eye witness told a San Martin judge a Morgan Hill couple used the term “beaner” to demean a pregnant woman they allegedly attacked last July during testimony Thursday in a hearing that will determine if the case will go to trial.
Morgan Hill residents Charles Peralta, 29, and Nicole Agriesti, 21, have pled not guilty to charges of assault causing bodily injury with a hate crime enhancement for allegedly yelling racial epithets when they attacked a pregnant Hispanic woman last July. Both are free on $100,000 bail.
According to the police report, Calderon told police she was assaulted by the pair after they allegedly ran over a bag of groceries she left in the parking lot of the Cochrane Village Apartments. Calderon said the pair repeatedly hit her and kicked her, even as she told them she was two months pregnant, causing her to nearly lose the unborn child.
During Thursday’s hearing, Judge Susan Bernardini heard testimony from MHPD Officer Scott Silva, who was the investigating officer, and a 14-year-old female resident of the apartment complex, who allegedly witnessed the end of the confrontation.
Questioning by prosecutor Mark Hood and the two defense attorneys was detailed, and focused on Silva’s investigation and the injuries to Calderon and Agriesti. The hate crime charge was addressed when the juvenile testified.
She told the court she heard Agriesti call Calderon a “beaner,” then kick her once in the “lower stomach,” while laughing with Peralta, as Calderon stood crying with “blood in her mouth.”
The teen told the court that was all she witnessed, that she did not see Peralta touch Calderon in any way, but heard him laughing with Agriesti, and that she only saw Agriesti kick Calderon one time.
Silva’s testimony took up the majority of Thursday’s portion of the hearing, with Agriesti’s attorney, Mark Arnold, appearing to try to prove Silva had a preconceived idea that Calderon was the victim, not the instigator of the assault, and that his investigation was biased.
Much of his testimony and cross-examination centered around a statement from an 11-year-old male resident of the complex, who told Silva he saw a female running by the playground where he was playing, yelling for someone to call 911. He said he then left the playground area to go to the parking lot, where he saw, he told Silva, a man holding a woman against a car, but could not tell if the man was hitting the woman because the man’s back was facing him. He also told Silva that a woman was also present, and thought “it was a man and a woman, two against one woman,” Silva said.
The male juvenile, who was not in court, told Silva that Agriesti was also aggressive as the pair left the apartment complex.
“He told me that the male and female ran to the vehicle, the female got into the driver’s side, the male in the passenger’s side, and they sped off,” Silva said Thursday.
The court also saw photographs of the squashed groceries – a bag of fruit – as well as the location of the incident and some of Calderon and Agriesti’s injuries.
According to Arnold, the confrontation was initiated by Calderon, and Agriesti was defending herself while Peralta sought to break up the fight.
Bernardini scheduled the hearing to continue on March 9. Neither Agriesti or Peralta testified Thursday and the alleged victim, Xochitl Calderon, 32, of Morgan Hill, did not attend the hearing. Prosecutors have subpoenaed eight witnesses, six who are Morgan Hill Police officers and two juvenile witnesses. One witness for the defense was subpoenaed, but did not have an opportunity to testify Thursday.
