Pretrial scheduled for Thursday for man accused of racial slurs, punching two others

A Costa Mesa man accused of yelling racial slurs at and physically attacking two men while drunk is set to appear at his pretrial Thursday at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, according to court records.

Chad Martin Jurjaks, 30, is charged with two felony counts of violation of civil rights and violent injury after he allegedly attacked two Latino men outside a 7-Eleven in Costa Mesa on March 5, court records show.

Jurjaks, who is white, allegedly yelled “F------ Mexicans!” while intoxicated outside the store, and punched a 42-year-old Latino man and his 26-year-old nephew in the head. The two victims were with a cousin and the 42-year-old man’s wife at the time of the crime, according to a news release from the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Family members of the two men called police, and Jurjaks was arrested near the scene.

If convicted, Jurjaks faces up to seven years and four months in prison. He faces sentence enhancement for a prior strike conviction for criminal threats in 2006, according to the news release.

— Lauren Williams