One of the men that "brutally attacked" a Marco Rubio supporter was he while canvassing in Hialeah appeared in court Monday where he was granted bond with house arrest until his trial.
The prosecution wanted 22-year-old Javier Jesus Lopez to stay in jail, but the judge decided against it.
“Every person in the state of Florida is allowed pretrial release in reasonable conditions,” said Judge Zachary James.
After listening to hours of testimony and watching the video of the attack, the judge decided to grant bond for Lopez with house arrest -- a decision the victim in this case, 27-year-old Christopher Monzon, disagreed with.
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“These men are very dangerous individuals and I would not be surprised if they committed any more further crimes in front of their home as they did with me,” Monzon said.
According to the arrest report, Lopez and Jonathan Casanova were blocking the sidewalk where Monzon was passing out fliers for Republican candidates Marco Rubio and Gov. Ron DeSantis. When an argument broke out that turned physical. Monzon was sent to the hospital.
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Cell phone video of the altercation revealed that the incident happened in front of Lopez‘s home.
Casanova was also in court on Monday and he is out on bond.
He did not testify, but he spoke to NBC 6 afterwards and said that the incident was not politically motivated.
“Everybody has anger issues, every man,” said Casanova. “I’ve been focusing on a whole lot on myself. It’s been six or seven years since I’ve gotten into any conflicts. I can’t believe I’m here.”
Monzon said he does not like violence and looks forward to having justice served.
“I hope that this doesn’t happen to any canvasser ever again and it prevents this from happening to anyone ever again in the future,” said Monzon.
The trial is set to begin on January 23rd.
Monzon also made a point to say despite the Proud Boys' recent public support of him, he does not identify as a Proud Boy.
