SOUTH PASADENA — A 19-year-old man charged with striking a fellow high school student in the head with a baseball bat nearly two years ago — causing him to fall into a coma from which he hasn’t recovered — pleaded not guilty Thursday to an attempted murder charge.
Elijah Stinson was 17 at the time of the alleged assault on then-18-year-old South Pasadena High School student Jeffrey Cortinez. Stinson is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Dec. 15 in Alhambra Superior Court, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.
Stinson’s co-defendant in the case, 22-year-old Jeniell Galvan-Franco, was sentenced to three years in state prison in October, court officials said.
She pleaded no contest to one count of assault with a deadly weapon, Gibbons said.
Galvan-Franco was given 926 days “time served” credit toward her sentence, and awaits a restitution hearing in January.
Stinson was released and immediately re-arrested on Nov. 6, according to sheriff’s booking records, though it was not clear why.
The prosector and investigating detective handling the case could not be reached for comment Friday.
Authorities allege that Stinson walked up behind Cortinez at Garfield Park in South Pasadena and struck him in the head with a baseball bat.
Police have said Stinson likely held a grudge against Cortinez for several weeks, after one of Cortinez’s friends got into a fight with Stinson over a girl and Cortinez jumped into the fray.
Galvan-Franco was suspected of driving Stinson to and from the park.
Under California law, Stinson faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted of attempted murder.