No plea in Lodi fatal beating

Juan Antonio Velazquez, 37, did not enter a plea to a murder charge, which could send him to prison for life if he is convicted, in the Friday death of Neal Eugene Singer, 35.

The exact details of the early morning incident in a Downtown Lodi parking lot remain under investigation.

Meanwhile, Velazquez's former girlfriend, who has a protective order against him, is questioning why he was not deported last fall after he was arrested for domestic violence. Prosecutors confirmed Monday that Velazquez is an illegal immigrant. With the assistance of a Spanish-speaking interpreter, Velazquez told Judge J. Thomas Seibly that he could not afford an attorney and needed a public defender.

Wearing the same blue jeans and blue plaid shirt he wore when arrested shortly after 2 a.m. on Friday, Velazquez sat silently as Deputy District Attorney Roy Shannon asked that he be held without bail.

Among the reasons Shannon listed were "the fact that he's not a citizen of the United States and the nature of the attack — a serious beating of the head."

Seibly ordered that Velazquez be held without bail in the San Joaquin County Jail, and he set an April 1 court date for further arraignment.

Velazquez and Singer apparently had some sort of altercation in the public parking lot on Elm Street just west of Sacramento Street, according to Lodi Police. Though a woman, who didn't want her name used because she said she witnessed the incident and feared retribution, told the News-Sentinel on Friday that she saw several people fighting, Supervising Deputy District Attorney Chuck Schultz said he hasn't seen anything to substantiate that claim.

"I'm not going to classify this as a fight. A fight is two people arguing about something — it's not a beat-down," said Schultz, who filed the charge against Velazquez. "Whether this was a fight or not remains to be seen."

Velazquez was arrested three blocks from the homicide scene, and police recovered a weapon, which Schultz declined to specify.

Velazquez came to the attention of Lodi police six days before the fatal altercation, when he was cited for suspicion of public intoxication and stealing a $4 bottle of alcohol. That was a misdemeanor matter and prosecutors hadn't even filed charges yet.

Past homicides in Lodi

Georgina M. Contreras Perez, 49, of Visalia, was killed Oct. 4, 2007, in a drive-by shooting while visiting her 5-year-old grandson on Swain Drive in south Lodi. A 19-year-old Lodi woman was arrested two months later and is awaiting trial.

Gary Lee Patterson, 31, of Lodi, was shot five times outside a West Lockeford Street apartment complex on Aug. 26, 2006. Though police named a "person of interest," who is now in prison on unrelated matters, no charges have been filed.

Francisco Javier Hernandez, 43, of Elk Grove, was gunned down June 26, 2005, outside a former dance club on South Beckman Road. No suspects were ever named.
— News-Sentinel staff.

Earlier this year, prosecutors dismissed an unrelated misdemeanor domestic violence case, something that frustrated the alleged victim.

Heather Saylor, who still has a court order that keeps Velazquez 100 yards away from her, wondered if he might have been deported to Mexico if previous charges had stuck.

Saylor, 28, said she and Velazquez met in 2004 at El Tropical on Sacramento Street, a bar she frequented because she likes to salsa dance. He also enjoyed dancing, and people often bought him drinks.

The couple dated off and on until Velazquez, who has a wife and children in Mexico, moved north, though Saylor wasn't sure if his destination was Oregon or Washington.

He returned to Lodi last fall, she said, and court records show he was arrested soon after on suspicion of domestic violence.

Saylor learned of the homicide arrest Saturday, when a friend called and told her to look at a newspaper. She slept well that night, she said, knowing he was in jail on a charge that would keep him behind bars.

It was not known Monday why Velazquez's immigration status was not checked earlier, but Saylor wondered if things might have turned out differently.

Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.

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