The alleged January NFC Championship Game attack at SoFi Stadium saw its arraignment of defendant Bryan Cifuentes in an Inglewood courtroom Wednesday morning, and he pleaded not guilty to the one count of battery.
The San Francisco 49ers are already on to this year’s preseason, but the courts are still litigating an alleged January 30 attack of a 49ers fan in the parking lot at last season’s NFC Championship Game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. That incident left Moraga 49ers fan Daniel Luna in a medically induced coma for nearly a month. But in the days following the attack, suspect Bryan Alexis Cifuentes was arrested and charged with one count of battery with serious bodily injury.
On Wednesday morning, Cifuentes faced his arraignment at Inglewood Superior Court. And he seems determined to mount a powerful defense. So much so that a public relations firm sent SFist a press release on the matter Tuesday night, full of quotes from Cifuentes and his attorney.
“I am looking forward to clearing my name in court,” Cifuentes said in the release. “And I ask everyone to remember that we are all presumed innocent and that we all have the right to self-defense.”
L.A.’s KTTV was on the scene at the arraignment, and reports that indeed Cifuentes pleaded not guilty.
Cifuentes’ attorney Ambrosio Rodriguez said in the statement that “Video evidence will confirm that my client did not throw the first punch and was merely responding in order to protect himself and his wife.”
That video is likely to determine the outcome of this trial in very large part, and it still has it been made public. Cifuentes has his next hearing on October 17, and remains out on $30,000 bail.
Related: 49ers Fan Beaten in L.A. is Out of Coma, Standing On Own Two Feet [SFist]
Image: SoFi Stadium
