Bail for the 22-year-old UCSB student who is charged with attacking Isla Vista pastor Jon-Stephen Hedges 10 days ago was reduced Tuesday from $500,000 to $200,000, after a judge ruled he is not a threat to public safety or a flight risk. He has since posted bail.
Paul Gusman, who spent nearly four years in the military before attending UCSB, showed up — naked from the waist down — in the middle of the night on May 7 to the pastor’s house where he knocked on the door and yelled for help, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Gusman proceeded to throw himself against the front door, and Hedges, thinking he was in distress, let him in. Gusman then forced himself into the house and punched Hedges in the face, Sheriff’s spokesperson Kelly Hoover said, allegedly as many as 30 times. The assault appeared to be random, Hoover added, as “Father Jon had never seen or encountered Gusman before the attack.”