Court Briefs

William James Hagan, Jr., 28, was held to answer on charges of attempted first-degree murder.

His alleged victim, however, will spend the rest of his life as a quadriplegic. The 34-year-old South San Francisco man was shot Feb. 9 outside Hagan's home in the 400 block of Claremont Street. The 9 mm bullet shattered a vertebra before exiting the front of the neck.

The victim had traveled to San Mateo with two friends to retrieve some property. The meeting escalated into a shoving match and eventually the shooting, according to police reports.

Hagan left the victim on the sidewalk while he went back into his home to hide the weapon, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Hagan, with his defense attorney, turned himself in at the police station the following day.

Hagan is being held at San Mateo County Jail on no-bail status.

Three-year sentence

in elder assault

The martial arts instructor who pleaded no contest to punching a 65-year-old woman in the throat for no apparent reason on Christmas Eve will spend three years in prison.

Mark Skingley, 47, pleaded no contest to battery charges in return for no more than four years in prison. Judge Craig Parsons went for the middle term and denied probation.

Skingley, of San Francisco, reportedly punched the woman as she carried her grocery bags to her car at a Daly City Albertson's. The woman fell and was rendered unconscious while Skingley fled. Skingley was arrested after a short skirmish with police during which he bit an officer.

Police do not know why he assaulted the woman because he did not steal anything from her after the attack and the two do not know each other, according to police.

Skingley has five prior misdemeanor battery convictions and lists his occupation as a martial arts instructor.