SALT LAKE CITY—
Two of the people facing felony charges for beating DJ Bell and his partner, Dan Fair, made an appearance in court Friday morning. Ieiti David Mageo, 33, and Tapululululu Latu, 30, were appointed lawyers and told to return to court in April. In July 2008, Latu's children were found inside Bell's South Salt Lake home. Bell was Latu's neighbor and had attended their 4th of July party prior to the beating incident. Latu and others attending the party accused Bell of kidnapping the children. Several of them entered Bell's home and beat both Bell and Fair.After the beating, Fair was hospitalized and Bell was arrested on suspicion of child kidnapping. Bell was ultimately acquitted of criminal charges. After Bell's verdict was handed down, Mageo and Latu told FOX 13 News they believed their children were in danger. Bell released a blog posting at Injustice801.com indicating his fear of further retaliation. An excerpt from that blog appears below:
"They are out on bail and since several are already being charged with 1st degree felonies and don't have much to lose, I fear that they won't think twice about "finishing what they started" (especially given the fact that they have threatened to do so on more than one occasion)."
Seven people in all were charged in the beating. Bell and Fair's lawyers say they are still considering a civil lawsuit. Meanwhile, police in Las Vegas have arrested two more suspects in the case. Ricky Peace and Lisa Aiono are also charged with assaulting Bell and will be extradited to Utah for prosecution.
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