Beauregard’s Bail Increased : Jurisprudence: New amount of $100,000 set for Cal State Northridge football player charged with attempted murder.

Jonathan George Beauregard, the Cal State Northridge football player charged with two counts of attempted murder, was hit Wednesday with a dramatic bail hike and led out of court with his head down and his hands in cuffs.

San Bernardino Municipal Court Judge Ronald M. Christianson increased bail from $15,000 to $100,000 at a brief hearing after a prosecutor argued that the lesser amount was too low for two charges of attempted murder.

As a marshal approached, Beauregard took his hands out of his blue jean pockets and allowed himself to be cuffed. He sat in the front row of the courtroom and defense lawyer Grover L. Porter tapped his shoulder.

“You OK?” Porter whispered.

“Yeah,” Beauregard replied.

Beauregard was escorted out of the courtroom, walking past his former girlfriend and the mother of his child, Dunyella Darshell Smith. As he walked past, she brushed away a tear.

Beauregard, 22, was arrested Aug. 29 just hours after Smith, 21, of San Bernardino, and her male acquaintance, Von Eric Thompson, 26, of Rialto, were shot outside a San Bernardino bar.

Police said Smith and Thompson were shot as they sat in Thompson’s truck after the bar closed. Smith was hit once in the hip. Thompson was shot twice, in the arm and the chest.

Thompson, a security guard at the bar, was wearing a bullet-proof vest. The second shot hit him “right about where his heart would be,” police Detective Roy Izumi said.

Beauregard was arrested near his mother’s home shortly afterward. Smith told police that Beauregard had refused to leave her alone since they had broken up, Izumi said.

A police report in the court files indicated Smith “has been victim of (2) assaults by (Beauregard) in past but no filing. This time she is shot.”

Initially, Beauregard was booked for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon. He was released after posting $15,000 bail.

The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office then upgraded the charges to attempted murder, and added the special circumstances of using a handgun and inflicting “great bodily injury.”

If convicted of all charges, Beauregard could draw a maximum of 21 years in state prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Dwight Moore said. But, Moore said, “Since he has no criminal record, the prospects of us getting a 21-year sentence on this are unlikely.”

Beauregard, a senior majoring in criminology and a two-year starter on the offensive line, did not tell his teammates or coaches of the arrest. He started at right guard in each of the Matadors’ first four games.

The school learned of the charges Sept. 30, and Northridge officials announced Oct. 5 they would take no action against Beauregard.

He managed to sideline himself, however, when he broke his right ring finger in practice Oct. 4. Had he not been injured, Beauregard would have been allowed to play while the case worked its way through the courts, school officials said.

In a prepared statement on Wednesday, CSUN athletic director Bob Hiegert said: “The status of Jonathan Beauregard as a member of the CSUN football team is unchanged till the university gathers additional information.”

Before the hearing Wednesday, Beauregard said his finger has healed. Asked whether he would be ready to play this weekend, he said, “I think so.”

But CSUN football coach Bob Burt said: “I don’t see how. He hasn’t practiced. Obviously he wasn’t at practice yesterday or today.”

As for the criminal case, Beauregard said, “I’m dealing with it. I’ll be all right.” The case has generated unusual publicity in part because Beauregard’s grandmother, Valerie Pope-Ludlam, is a San Bernardino city councilwoman, and that publicity, he said, has been unnecessary and “difficult.”

The hearing Wednesday had been set as an arraignment, meaning the formal charges against Beauregard were due to be read for his plea of guilty or not guilty. But Porter, the defense attorney, asked that the reading of charges be pushed back, and no plea was entered Wednesday.

The defense lawyer said he preferred to take no action because he had not yet been given a detailed police report of the shootings. But, he said before the hearing of Beauregard, “He’s not guilty until the district attorney proves otherwise.”

The judge set a preliminary hearing for Oct. 31. Moore then argued that bail of $15,000 was considered low for an assault case and far too low for charges of attempted murder. Over Porter’s objection, Christianson raised Beauregard’s bail to $100,000.

If Beauregard makes the “fairly high” bail, the judge added, he is to have no contact with either Smith or Thompson. Christianson also ordered a hearing at which another judge can review the higher bail, scheduling it for Monday.

On her way out of the courthouse, Smith kept brushing away tears. When Beauregard was paraded before her in handcuffs, she said, “I was upset.”

Asked if he was guilty, she said: “I don’t have no comment.”

Staff writer Irene Garcia contributed to this story.