Let the public drama begin in the alleged assault of City Councilman Mehaul O’Leary that ignited almost two months ago at his Irish pub in Culver City.
Hours after felony battery charges were filed against 28-year-old Robert Anthony Singerman, the burly defendant made his first formal appearance since the much disputed closing-time incident.
Immaculately groomed with a brush cut, handsomely dressed in a gray shirt and dark slacks, he reported to the LAX courthouse where his succinct arraignment was heard a little before 9:30 this morning.
Not, unsurprisingly, with a dash of flash.
From the opening note, it was evident that neither the young Mr. Singerman nor his civically illustrious accuser, Mr. O’Leary, is likely to occupy the center ring for long.
That honor may be reserved for Mr. Singerman’s nationally reputed lawyer, Bruce Margolin.
According to his website, Mr. Margolin and his 42-year-old firm are prominent countrywide for the attorney’s career-long battle to legalize marijuana.
Diminutive and almost axiomatically dapper, Mr. Margolin sports a generous, well-coiffed growth on the south end of his face, contrasting with a sparse hirsute dilemma on the north side.
Mr. Singerman personifies athletic brawn.
Together, the newly formed courtroom team of Margolin and Singerman is a striking pair, plainly the long and short of it.
When Judge Keith L. Schwartz called the case, he immediately acknowledged Mr. Margolin’s celebrity or specialness.
Mentally noting the charge was battery, not drug-related, Judge Schwartz smiled and cracked, rhetorically:
“Not one of your normal cases.”
A little feathery sparring followed.
When the judge said he would like to set for preliminary hearing for a date 6 weeks into the future, Mr. Margolin suggested Dec. 5, more remote than the judge had in mind.
They compromised on 7 weeks from today, Thursday, Nov. 19.
As for Mr. O’Leary, who was not present, the prosecutor said that when he was socked in the nose by the bar patron, he suffered a broken nose, later underwent reconstructive facial surgery and may face additional surgery.
