Man in helmet attack gets 4-day prison term

The Superior Court has imposed a four-day prison term on a man who seriously injured another by hitting him with a motorcycle helmet on the head outside a nightclub on Tinian.

Associate Judge David A. Wiseman sentenced Luis P. Cruz to five years in prison, all suspended except for four days, for aggravated assault and battery.

Wiseman gave the 42-year-old Cruz credit for the four days he has already served in jail. This means the defendant will no longer spend time in prison.

Wiseman placed the defendant on five years of supervised probation and required him to write a letter of apology to the victim, Jingzhu Cui.

The judge ordered Cruz to pay $10,000 in restitution to Cui, a $300 fine, and $25 assessment fee, plus a probation fee.

Wiseman warned Cruz that failure to make on restitution installment shall constitute a violation of probation and subject to revocation proceedings.

Cruz was directed to report to the Community Guidance Center for an initial evaluation and undergo anger management counseling and substance abuse.

The defendant is barred from possessing or consuming any alcoholic beverages during the five-year probationary period.

Wiseman set a review hearing for June 12, 2009, at 9am at the Tinian Superior Court to determine whether the defendant is complying with the terms and conditions of his sentence.

The Attorney General’s Office charged Cruz with assault with a dangerous weapon and aggravated assault and battery.

Cruz and counsel, Joey P. San Nicolas, signed a plea agreement with the government, represented by chief prosecutor Kevin Lynch.

In exchange for pleading guilty to aggravated assault and battery, the government moved to dismiss the remaining charges. Wiseman granted the government’s motion.

The factual basis of the plea agreement stated that on April 13, 2008, Cruz “did recklessly serious bodily injury to Cui, to wit: severe head trauma.”

According to court records, a witness told police that he and Cui went to the U-Joy Nite Club where they each drank a bottle of beer on April 13. As they walked outside the club, the victim had an argument with two local men.

The witness tried to pacify them but, as he went to get his bicycle, he saw one of the two men hit the victim on the head with a helmet.

The suspect, later identified by investigators as Cruz, left the scene on board a motorcycle.

When police officers arrived at the scene, Cui was seen lying on the ground. Police said the victim’s eyes were closed and he was swaying his head from left to right. According to a Tinian detective, when he interviewed Cui at the Commonwealth Health Center later that day, he and a translator could not understand what the victim was saying.

The detective said the victim was talking to himself and at the same time “doing odd sign languages.”