A detailed interview with an alleged assault victim led to
charges being pressed against two UCLA football players nearly
three months after the altercation took place, the Los Angeles
Daily News reported Saturday.
Freshman linebacker John Hale and freshman defensive tackle Jess
Ward pleaded not guilty to a felony count of assault last Thursday
in San Bernardino Superior Court.
Warrants were issued for their arrest in connection with a Feb.
19 incident that occurred at the home of Ward’s parents in
Running Springs.
However, there was apparently not enough information on the
incident at the Ward residence to immediately press charges against
Hale and Ward.
According to Annemarie Pace, deputy district attorney in San
Bernardino, the alleged victim had recently provided the district
attorney’s office with detailed information of that February
evening.
“It was based on an in-depth interview with the
victim,” Pace told the Daily News. “It was just about
involvement of the two UCLA students. It was a more detailed
account.”
Casey Coniglio, a former teammate of Ward’s at Rim of the
World High School in Lake Arrowhead, and Franco Serrato were
arrested on Feb. 20 for their involvement in the incident.
According to court records, the complaint to the police was
filed by Nicholas Mierau. Pace told the Daily News that Mierau was
taken to the hospital after the incident and diagnosed with a
non-displaced fracture of the nasal bone.
If Hale and Ward are cleared of the felony charges, both players
could still face civil lawsuits from the alleged victim, sources
told the Daily News.
Hale and Ward have their next court date on May 17.
Last week, UCLA football coach Karl Dorrell defended his players
by saying he believed both of them were trying to move the
altercation off the Wards’ property, rather than instigate
any violence.
Dorrell also said neither player would be suspended or
reprimanded unless more conclusive legal proceedings ruled Hale or
Ward guilty.