Trial Ordered for Brian Paznokas, Ex-Grossmont High Two-Sport Star

Former Grossmont High School star athlete Brian William Paznokas and another teen will face trial in April for residential burglary, accused of trying to break into a Woodland Drive home last November.

Paznokas, 18, who is free on $50,000 bail, faces a maximum six-year prison sentence under Penal Code sections 459/460 along with co-defendant, Ryan McIntoch Izumi, who is still in jail. Both were 18 at the time of arrest and lived in El Cajon.

At a preliminary hearing Wednesday morning in El Cajon Superior Court, Judge Patricia Cookson ordered both to stand trial April 11, said Deputy District Attorney Daniel Shim, who is prosecuting Paznokas and Izumi.

Both defendants have pleaded not guilty, Shim said. They are represented by attorney Bill Arena, he said.

Arena made no arguments against the charges, Shim said, and offered no case that Paznokas was an unwilling partner in the alleged crime.

Family members were in the courtoom, Shim said, but he didn't know whether they were all from the victimes' side or the defendants.

Shim said La Mesa police Detective Katy Lynch testified in the 2 1/2-hour hearing Wednesday morning as did the husband and wife who were victimized in the 4200 block of Woodland Drive.

In football, lineman Paznokas was named to the All-Grossmont North League Football Team's second-team offense. As a reliever, Paznokas played a key role in Grossmont's advancement in CIF baseball play last spring.

A 2010 graduate of Grossmont High School, Paznokas was on the 2010 Union-Tribune All-Academic Team.

At 1:08 p.m. Nov. 18,  La Mesa police responded to a call of two men trying to forcibly enter the east La Mesa home.

"The suspects removed a screen from one of the windows of the house and were trying to open the window when the homeowner confronted them," police said at the time. Shim said it was actually a part of a screen.

The suspects ran to a silver Nissan Sentra and drove away. Officers saw the suspect car being driven a few blocks away on Moisan Way at Garfield Street and pulled them over, police said in November. 

Both young men were later identified by the homeowner and placed under arrest.