A 29-year-old former Yucca Valley resident pleaded not guilty Friday to gunning down a man next to a party bus in Palm Desert more than two years ago, leaving the man, Juan Eliasarrars, 35, paralyzed from the chest down and confined to a wheelchair, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. William Sumpter was charged in December with one count each of attempted murder and intimidation of a witness, and entered his not guilty pleas at his arraignment at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. The Judge kept Sumpter’s bail at $1 million, and ordered him back to court for a trial readiness hearing April 29. The shooting was reported shortly after 10 p.m. August. 26, 2011. Eliasarrars, an Indio resident, was shot while walking. Eliasarrars said he’d gotten into a fight with Sumpter on a party bus, and was shot at a stop. Eliasarrars was shot four times and said his back was turned when he was attacked. Sumpter was arrested in Humboldt County, when deputies made a traffic stop in January and found he was wanted on the Riverside County warrant.
