Defense attorney casts doubt on Hialeah Republican canvasser’s beating claims
The canvasser who claims he was beaten up in Hialeah because he is Republican stuck to his story in a Miami courtroom on Monday, even as a defense lawyer accused him of embellishing the facts for political fame.
Christopher Monzon’s testimony was presented Monday during a detention hearing in the criminal case against one of his accused attackers. It was Monzon’s first detailed account of the Oct. 23 fight that mushroomed into a national political story after U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted that the canvasser was attacked by “animals who told him Republicans weren’t allowed in their neighborhood.”
But since the arrests of Javier Lopez and Jonathan Casanova, doubts and questions have surrounded Monzon’s narrative. Lopez’s defense attorney largely dismissed it in court on Monday, saying that an argument had only escalated into testosterone-filled fisticuffs because Monzon was staring at his client’s girlfriend. Even the prosecutor said he did not believe politics had anything to do with the incident, instead urging the judge that the “case should be looked at on the facts.”
During Monday’s hearing, Lopez’s attorney, Aileen Penate Hernandez, played Hialeah police body-camera video of Monzon speaking to officers immediately after the attack — footage that revealed he never explicitly said he was attacked because he was Republican.
“So you agree with me you didn’t tell them,” said Penate Hernandez, an assistant public defender.
“I mentioned the word ‘canvassing,’ which implied they had a problem with me canvassing there,” said Monzon, who insisted that “it was my interpretation of what happened.”
Judge agrees to bond for accused attacker
The testimony unfolded in court as prosecutors sought to keep Lopez jailed pending trial on charges of aggravated battery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, for the alleged siccing of German shepherd dogs on Monzon. Lopez is charged alongside Casanova, who has posted a $7,500 bond and was not a party to Monday’s hearing.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Zachary James on Monday afternoon declined to keep Lopez jailed until his trial, granting him a $15,000 bond and freeing him on house arrest. The judge said prosecutors established enough evidence that Lopez may have committed a violent crime, although he acknowledged that cellphone and surveillance videos of the attack “do not clearly reflect who was the initial aggressor in this incident.”
In at times testy exchanges, Monzon, 27, insisted he was targeted for his beliefs. He also refused to answer some questions — including whether he changed his story only after Rubio’s tweet the day after the beating. At the hospital the next day, after Rubio’s tweet, he told Hialeah police detectives the attack was politically motivated.
“You want the world to believe that this is a politically motivated crime,” Penate Hernandez asked.
“What I want is the truth,” Monzon shot back.
Despite the political circus enveloping the beating, it may not become the central thrust of the case if it ever goes to a jury trial. Miami-Dade prosecutors do not have to prove Lopez and Casanova’s motivations for the attack.
Whether any of the young men involved were acting in self-defense — or if it was a case “mutual” combat” — will likely become the key question. Under Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law, a citizen does not have a duty to retreat before using force, or the possibility of force, to meet a threat.
Prosecutor Santiago Aroca told the court he didn’t believe this case had anything to do with politics, but that Monzon had the First Amendment right to be canvassing. “He had the right to not withdraw, to stand his ground,” Aroca said.
Monzon’s version
In Monzon’s telling on Monday, he claimed he was walking past Lopez’s Hialeah house, canvassing homes of Republican voters, looking down at his phone, when Lopez and Casanova began jawing at him because he was walking too close to Lopez’s car partially blocking the sidewalk.
Monzon claimed that he tried explaining what he was doing, and they told him he had “to leave the neighborhood and that my life is now in danger.” They taunted him, with Lopez threatening to shoot him before rushing him. When he was on the ground, they punched and kicked him, before releasing Casanova’s dogs — which did not end up biting him.
“Now, I’m essentially being beaten down,” Monzon said as he watched surveillance video of the fight “It’s very difficult for me to continue watching.”
He wound up suffering a concussion, with severe headaches and nausea, and fractures to his cheek, orbital and nasal bones. His vision may also be impacted, Monzon told the court.
But the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office cast Monzon as the aggressor who — hurt that he was being taunted — walked away, but then re-engaged the two men. Penate Hernandez told the judge Lopez was defending himself from Monzon.
“This case is basically a he-said-she-said,” she said. “At the very least, it shows evidence of mutual combat.”
When Lopez and Casanova started taunting him — telling him to leave and “do your job” — he walked back toward them. Monzon admitted he didn’t just walk away.
“You were so scared for your life that you walked toward the threat,” Penate Hernandez said.
“Yes, because I wasn’t sure what would happen if I turned my back,” Monzon replied.
She noted that in one cellphone video clip, it appears as if Lopez is the one backing up, before taking Monzon down.
“But in fact ... it was you who came at Javi,” Penate Hernandez said.
“I never did charge him,” Monzon said. “He charged me.”
During the cross-examination, Penate Hernandez grilled Monzon on the hours and days after the beating in an attempt to poke holes in Monzon’s credibility. She grilled him on becoming a “martyr” figure for his supporters and his “political aspirations.”
Monzon is vice president of the Miami Springs Republican Club and a former candidate for Hialeah City Council. He also has former ties to a white nationalist organization, ideals he says he now rejects. The campaign of Marco Rubio, who has been critical of media scrutiny of Monzon’s background and story, did not return a request for comment,
Penate Hernandez also questioned why members of the far-right group the Proud Boys were visiting him in the hospital.
“I plead the Fifth on the grounds I was not conscious at the time,” Monzon said.
Gabriel Garcia, a prominent former Proud Boy who is awaiting trial for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, earlier told the Herald they were visiting him because he is a friend, although he admitted Monzon’s father asked them to keep the media out of his room.
Penate Hernandez pointed out that days after the beating, the Proud Boys held a rally in Hialeah for Monzon, who made an appearance and briefly spoke to reporters.
Monzon later told reporters that he was not a Proud Boy, never spoke at the rally and dropped by because he was voting nearby at a Hialeah library.
In court, Penate Hernandez suggested he was soaking up the publicity.
“But you were very happy that it happened,” she asked. “You were very honored that it happened.”
He said: “I said I appreciated it.”
Miami Herald staff writers Sarah Blaskey and Nicholas Nehamas contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 6:52 PM.
