4 ORDERED TO STAND TRIAL IN PURSUIT.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Four young men have been ordered to stand trial on charges stemming from a home invasion robbery and a chase in which a California Highway Patrol officer was shot at with an Uzi assault rifle.

The fleeing van halted in a Palmdale neighborhood, where the occupants scattered, leading to a nearly four-hour search involving more than 20 deputies, a helicopter and two police dogs.

The home invasion robbery occurred the day before on Aug. 31 when a woman was accosted by robbers as she was leaving her home in east Lancaster.

Delshawn Jermaine Bodney, 23, of Tehachapi; Derrick Owens, 19, of Fontana; and Mark Anthony Powell, 18, of Rialto, are charged in the pursuit with attempted murder, assault on a peace officer and evading an officer.

Bodney, Powell, and 19-year-old Sonny Martin of Fontana are charged in the home invasion robbery.

A fifth defendant, 20-year-old Regina Tillman of Fontana, was originally charged in the pursuit but pleaded no contest last week to possession of marijuana for sale. She faces up to a year in county jail when she is sentenced later this month, officials said.

``We reached a disposition on her primarily because of a lack of criminal history,'' Deputy District Attorney Carlos Chung said. ``She had no involvement in the home invasion robbery and minimal involvement in the pursuit.''

The remaining four defendants were bound over for trial following a two-day preliminary hearing that ended Tuesday. The driver of the stolen van has not been caught.

Powell was 17 at the time of the police pursuit but criminal charges were filed against him as an adult under Proposition 21, under which minors 16 years and older can be charged directly in adult court at the discretion of prosecutors for serious offenses.

Powell's attorney, Marc Herbert, said there are gang allegations attached to the charges against his client.

``Evidence on Powell as to the gang and attempted murder are weak,'' Herbert said. ``There is no evidence he was a member of a gang, but the court decided his conduct promoted criminal conduct by gang members.''

Sheriff's deputies said the defendants rented a local motel room in Lancaster during their crime spree.

The CHP car was not hit by the bullets, which were fired through a Chevrolet Astrovan's rear window, breaking it. At least five bullets from the Uzi went through the van's rear door, deputies said.

The van had been stolen in May in Palmdale, deputies said. Inside were baggies of marijuana as well as the semiautomatic rifle and 15 or 20 empty shell casings, deputies said.

The CHP officer had tried to stop the van for a traffic offense on Highway 138 in Littlerock.