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SALT LAKE CITY -- Seven people accused in the severe beatings of a South Salt Lake man and his partner may be one step closer to a plea deal.
The seven are facing charges ranging from riot to aggravated assault in the 2008 attack of D.J. Bell and Dan Fair.
The group suspected that Bell and Fair had taken two children from their Fourth of July party into the men's home.
Monday they tentatively agreed to plead guilty pending another hearing that's scheduled next month.
Bell was initially charged with kidnapping two children during the party, but was acquitted in a subsequent trial.
Prosecutors say several people broke into Bell's home and threw a TV onto Fair's head, smashing his right eye socket. Bell sustained mild traumatic brain injury, cuts on his feet and neck and permanent partial hearing loss in one ear because of the beating.
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7 in Bell assault case waive hearing January 5th, 2011 @ 11:29am By Emiley Morgan SALT LAKE CITY — Seven defendants accused of assaulting a South Salt Lake man and his partner waived their rights to a hearing on the evidence in the case Wednesday.
A two-day preliminary hearing had been set for those charged in March with brutally attacking David James "DJ" Bell and his partner Dan Fair in their South Salt Lake home after a late-night party on July, 4, 2008.
One by one, all seven stood with their attorneys and waived their rights to a hearing on the evidence in the case. They were all assigned an arraignment date of Feb. 7.
Bell was initially charged with kidnapping two children during that party, but was acquitted in a subsequent trial.
Many of the same people testified as victims in the trial, but they are now defendants facing charges ranging from riot, a third-degree felony, to aggravated assault, a first-degree felony.
Prosecutors say several people broke into Bell's home and threw a TV onto Fair's head, smashing his right eye socket. Bell sustained mild traumatic brain injury, cuts on his feet and neck and permanent partial hearing loss in one ear because of the beating.
After the hearing, Bell said the legal process has "been an emotional roller coaster" that has left him "destroyed" financially. He said he has already incurred $100,000 in bills and will require yet another surgery for hearing loss in his right ear.
He said he isn't sure what an ideal outcome in the case for him would be, but hopes at least for some financial restitution.
"Sometimes I think I'd like to see prison time served," he said. "But then I think of the kids involved. ... There is no real satisfactory resolution."
Defense attorney Clayton Simms, who represents Lisa Aiono, 27, who is facing one count of riot, said the fact that the case had already gone to trial once lessened the need for a hearing on the evidence in the case.
"We already know a lot about the case, because the case had gone to trial," he said. "We know what evidence is available."
He said waiving preliminary hearings allows the defendants to keep their options open, as they mull whether to proceed to trial or take any plea deals that may be offered. He declined to say whether Aiono had been offered a deal.
Tapululululu Latu, 31, Lisa Aiono, 27, and Marsha Finau, 31, are each charged with riot, a third-degree felony. Angelina Dibella, 32, is charged with riot, a third-degree felony, and assault, a class A misdemeanor. Ricky Peace, 34, and Ieti Mageo, 33, are charged with aggravated burglary and aggravated assault, both first-degree felonies, and riot, a third-degree felony. Ietitaia Nuusila, 27, is charged with aggravated burglary and aggravated assault, a first-degree felony, riot, a third-degree felony, assault, a class A misdemeanor, and giving false information to a peace officer, a class A misdemeanor.
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Written with contributions from Emiley Morgan
(File Photo: Megan Pedersen, left, Dan Fair and David James "DJ" Bell leave the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011.)
