Former Cal Poly student Charles Hojaboom will stand trial starting April 22, the court ruled Wednesday. The 20-year-old allegedly fired a gun on campus multiple times.
The prosecution said the trial will take a week and a half of full-day sessions to present evidence to a jury before a verdict is reached.
After his lawyer initially suggested April 21 for the trial’s start date, Hojaboom cut in, asking for it to be moved a day later.
“It’s my birthday on the 21st,” Hojaboom said to the judge.
His lawyer then consulted with him separately and revised his request to April 22.
Hojaboom was willing to waive time for his trial, meaning he would have an extension past the 60-day minimum the court sets from the arraignment date. However, the date was set within the required time frame, no longer requiring a time waiver.
Hojaboom, along with former Cal Poly student Brandon Pham, was arrested in November 2023 and charged with firing a gun on campus outside Poly Canyon Village apartments. The pair allegedly fired guns on campus at least four times.
Hojaboom pleaded not guilty in January to multiple charges, including felony discharging a firearm with gross negligence, felony shooting at an inhabited dwelling, felony possession of a knife, and four counts of possession of a loaded firearm on a college campus. The knife charge was dropped, but another charge for a loaded firearm on campus was added.
In September 2024, Pham entered a no-contest plea and was sentenced to 210 days, or almost seven months, for three felony counts of possession of a loaded firearm on a college campus and felony shooting at an inhabited dwelling on Aug. 14, 2023. After Pham’s release, he will be on probation for two years and complete 60 hours of community service.
There will be two readiness conferences hosted for attorneys and the judge to prepare for the trial and discuss the facts of the case on April 16 and 18.
This is an ongoing story. Mustang News will cover the upcoming trial in April.
