Defendant in Hammer Attack Blamed ‘Voice,’ Officer Says

A man accused of seriously injuring two teen-agers with a hammer in Granada Hills told a Los Angeles police detective that “a strange force” compelled him to commit the crime, the detective testified Wednesday.

Four days after the attack, Rodolfo Aguero, 33, told Detective George Daley that “a strange force told him to act and act fast,” Daley testified at Aguero’s preliminary hearing in San Fernando Municipal Court. Aguero had waived his constitutional right against self-incrimination, the detective said.

Aguero has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the July 8 attack on Kelly McClure, 18, of Granada Hills and Jack Utley, 17, of Huntington Beach.

McClure and Utley were struck repeatedly on their heads as they sat together on a curb near McClure’s home. The incident left them partially disabled.

Aguero told the detective that “a voice” told him “to punish someone who was laughing at him,” Daley testified. “He said he hurt them,” Daley said, referring to the victims. “He said he had the hammer in his right hand and he beat them.”

Aguero told Daley that “he had mental problems and that he needed help,” the detective testified. Details about Aguero’s past were not available, and neither his family nor his attorney would comment about his mental history.

Daley identified Aguero as a suspect after receiving a tip from a patrol officer who thought Aguero resembled a composite drawing of the man who attacked the teen-agers, Daley said.

Daley recovered a hammer from the home where Aguero was living with his family in Granada Hills, but laboratory tests showed no sign of blood on it, Daley testified.

The hearing before Judge Gregg Marcus is expected to resume Tuesday.