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Man accused of beating adoptive father to plead guilty
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Posted on Sep 02 2021
A man who was arrested for allegedly beating his adoptive father for no reason is set to plead guilty to the charges today.
During a preliminary hearing yesterday for In Won Hwang, 21, Office of the Public Defender’s Karie Comstock, who represents him, informed the court that her client would like to waive his preliminary and arraignment hearings altogether and move forward with a change of plea.
Comstock said they could not enter a guilty plea yesterday because the plea agreement was still in the process of being finalized.
Although he intends to plead guilty, Hwang maintained a plea of not guilty before Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph Camacho during his hearing yesterday. Camacho, in turn, ordered Hwang to return to court today at 2:30pm for his change of plea hearing.
Hwang was remanded back to Department of Corrections custody while he awaits his next court hearing.
According to court documents, a 77-year-old man and his 69-year-old wife called the police after Hwang assaulted his adoptive father at around 4:47pm last Aug. 23.
The couple told police that Hwang had arrived home upset and was acting violently toward them. The victims allege that Hwang came into their bedroom and just started throwing things and shouting profanities at them, before punching his father in the arm many times. When the father tried to leave the room, Hwang allegedly headbutted his father to prevent him from leaving.
The father told police that Hwang had been acting like this every two to three days for the past three years.
The couple said Hwang did not give any reason why he did these things to them and he was not visibly drunk whenever he acted violently.
The mother, who called the police when she saw Hwang punching her husband multiple times, said Hwang also injured her left hand after slamming her phone on it as she was calling police.
After doing so, Hwang then left their house but the couple claims they were still afraid because their doors could not be locked because Hwang had previously damaged them. Hwang also allegedly threatened to return and hurt them again.
At the scene, police observed that household items were scattered and broken in the bedroom and living room.
