Man pleads guilty in bat attack

Molly Ball

Thursday, Nov. 18, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

A man who was captured on videotape attacking a group of women with a baseball bat admitted his guilty in court this morning, and his request for lower bail was denied.

Elvin Avila, 18, pleaded guilty before District Judge Valorie Vega to two counts of battery with a deadly weapon for the Sept. 16 attack in Shadow Rock Park, on Los Feliz Street and Carey Avenue.

Avila was originally charged with six counts of battery and attempted robbery, and his bail was set by Justice of the Peace Douglas Smith at $100,000 cash or $1 million bond per count.

His lawyer, Michael Sanft, asked Vega to reduce bail to $10,000 per count, saying Avila was not a flight risk and had turned himself in to police. The original bail was unreasonably high and served more to punish Avila rather than to ensure he should , Sanft argued.

But prosecutor Christopher Lee said Avila only turned himself in after the video of the attack aired on television news and he realized he couldn't get away with it.

"There was a nationwide manhunt for this defendant," Lee told the judge. "His face was plastered all over the media, all over the country. That's what prompted him to come back."

Vega reset bail at $1 million cash or bond per count, for a total of $2 million.

Sanft said Avila and his family would not be able to afford to bail him out.

Avila is to be sentenced on Jan. 6.

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