A Pacifica man accused of assaulting two men in an October fight is facing additional charges and a lengthier sentence this week after he punched a witness in the head several times during a preliminary hearing Monday, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
Michael Anthony Cereghino, 22, was allegedly sitting at the counsel table of a courtroom at the South San Francisco courthouse during a witness’ testimony when he stood up from his chair and ran past the bailiff and the court reporter and toward the witness without warning. He punched the witness, an alleged assault victim, in the head three or four times before the bailiff and an investigating detective pulled him off the man and brought him to a holding cell, according to prosecutors.
Initially charged with two counts of felony assault and two counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon, Cereghino now faces 10 years in state prison after prosecutors added charges of dissuading a witness and resisting an officer for his outburst in court, according to prosecutors.
On Oct. 15, 2017, Pacifica police officers were dispatched on reports of a fight in which Cereghino is alleged to have repeatedly punched a man, the witness he later attacked in court, as well as another man who came to his friend’s assistance. He later threw rocks at the two men, hitting the second man he punched in the face, according to prosecutors.
After Cereghino was taken out of the courtroom Monday, his defense attorney allegedly made a motion to declare him not competent to stand trial on both set of charges. Two doctors were appointed to evaluate him on his previous charges Wednesday and the same doctors are expected to be appointed to evaluate his competency to stand trial for his new charges Thursday, according to prosecutors.
Cereghino is in custody on $150,000 bail and is expected to appear in court Aug. 21 for receipt of the doctors’ reports, according to prosecutors.
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(2) comments
Lucky, This could have been the Judge or the Court reporter. San Mateo County Courts not so safe.
What was the San Mateo County Sheriff Deputy Bailiff doing as this man stood up and charged and assaulted this person on the Witness Stand?
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.