LOCAL : Marine Denies Assault on Clerk

A Marine Corps recruiter pleaded not guilty today to attempted murder and assault charges, and his lawyer said the former boxer’s alleged beating of a supermarket clerk was in self-defense.

Sgt. Juan Antonio Rodriguez, 29, of Irvine has been restricted to El Toro Marine base following the April 27 incident that left Larry Lamar Hatch, 22, of Garden Grove in a coma.

Police say Rodriguez argued with Hatch and several other supermarket workers, who had finished their shift at an Anaheim market and were drinking beer in a parked truck. Police allege Rodriguez left, then returned with three other Marines from the nearby recruiting office and began punching Hatch in the head.

Hatch was knocked unconscious and fell to the pavement, suffering severe head injuries, police said. He underwent emergency brain surgery and remains in the Los Alamitos Medical Center.

“This case is going to boil down to a self-defense issue,” said Rodriguez’s attorney, Dennis O’Connell. Rodriguez has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon--his fists--but O’Connell said the Marine’s boxing prowess had been exaggerated.

“He tried out for the boxing team in El Toro and didn’t make it,” O’Connell said.