3 Fresno men sentenced for Avila Beach brawl that broke woman’s skull
Three Fresno men who started a brawl at the Avila Pier that sent a 20-year-old woman to the hospital with a fractured skull will serve jail or prison terms after pleading no contest to charges related to the fight.
The June 16 fight outside the bathrooms on the Avila Pier ended in serious injuries to the woman and minor injuries to at least four others.
All three men were charged by the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office with criminal enhancements for participating in a criminal street gang; two were found guilty of those enhancements.
On Aug. 30, Nicholas Rodriguez, 19, pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to three years in state prison. He was found not guilty of a gang enhancement.
Gregory Rodriguez, 20, pleaded no contest to the same charge, but he admitted criminal enhancements for participating in a gang and causing great bodily injury to the woman, Assistant District Attorney Lee Cunningham said Friday. He was sentenced to seven years in state prison.
Both men are currently serving their sentences at Wasco State Prison, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
A third man, Andrew Michael Alonso, 27, was arrested at the scene of the fight because he had an outstanding warrant for domestic violence, the Sheriff’s Office said in June. On Sept. 25, Alonso pleaded no contest to being an accessory to a felony and admitted a street gang enhancement. He received 189 days in San Luis Obispo County Jail and three years of formal probation. Jail logs did not list Alonso in custody Friday.
The three were arrested shortly after 8 p.m. on the day of the fight, when witnesses told authorities that Gregory Rodriguez and Nicholas Rodriguez, along with two other men, approached a 20-year-old woman from Merced County and her friends. A fight broke out between the two groups, and prosecutors alleged that Gregory Rodriguez grabbed a partially full beer bottle and threw it at the woman, hitting her in the head, Cunningham said.
She was taken to a local hospital with a fractured skull.
California Highway Patrol officers stopped the men as they left the area in a car and allegedly found a loaded handgun in the vehicle.
All three men have restitution hearings to compensate the victim, scheduled for November and December.
This story was originally published October 20, 2017 at 5:33 PM with the headline "3 Fresno men sentenced for Avila Beach brawl that broke woman’s skull."