Charley Gargano, men’s lacrosse player and a junior in the College of Education, waived his right to a preliminary hearing after appearing in court Monday. A new court date was set for Oct. 8.
Gargano is charged with substantial battery with intent to cause bodily harm, after he allegedly assaulted a Department of Public Safety officer Sept. 15. The charge carries up to a $10,000 fine and a prison sentence of up to three and a half years.
Court commissioner Rosa Barillas accepted Gargano’s request to waive the preliminary hearing and set the date for his arraignment. Gargano is being bound over for trial because the court found probable cause in his initial court appearance Sept. 20. This means that the court has enough evidence from the criminal complaint for an arraignment, where he will plead either guilty or not guilty.
In a typical preliminary hearing, the prosecution presents its evidence to go to trial, but because Gargano waived the right to his preliminary hearing, the case will go straight to an arraignment.
After the hearing Monday, Gargano’s lawyer John Schiro, of the firm Schiro & Zarzynski, said Gargano’s actions were out of character.
“He comes from a wonderful family,” Schiro said. “He has never been in jail before.”
Schiro also said Gargano is no longer living on campus.
According to the criminal complaint filed for the case, Gargano is accused of striking DPS officer Annette Demeuse after she arrived to assist another officer, Valerie Gunderman, who found Gargano and two other students in a verbal altercation.
Capt. Russell Shaw, associate director of DPS, said Gargano was acting “very erratic.” After Gargano complied to the officers’ orders to get on the ground, he got up and charged at Demeuse, striking her and knocking her backwards into a concrete planter. Multiple Milwaukee Police Department squad cars, fire trucks and an ambulance arrived at the scene. Both DPS officers received medical attention, while Demeuse sustained a nasal fracture and broken orbital bone in her face. Demeuse also received eight stitches above her left eye.
Before the incident, Gargano reportedly attended a concert at The Rave, 2401 W. Wisconsin Ave. According to the criminal complaint, Gargano said he “voluntarily ingested the hallucinogen, lysergic acid diethylamide on four separate occasions,” while at the concert. Gargano told investigators he had “little recollection of what occurred after that point, and has no memory of committing a battery.”
The criminal complaint stated that because of Gargano’s intoxicated state, the Milwaukee Fire Department needed to sedate him after DPS attemped to subdue him with pepper spray. According to the complaint, Gargano fled the scene and was apprehended by a public safety officer in the median on Wisconsin Avenue between Johnston Hall and Carpenter Tower.
A statement from the university said, “Marquette takes any allegation and act of misconduct seriously and expects all of our students to uphold Marquette’s values. In a situation where a student violates university policy, a student conduct process is intitiated. In serious cases involving student-athletes, the student will not be allowed to participate in athletic and team activities indefinitely, pending the outcome of the university process.”
