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This story was posted last year, at the time it looked like they would not file "hate crime" charges.
Black youths offered deals in Long Beach beating case
ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 26, 2007
LONG BEACH – Two black youths accused of taking part in the Halloween mob beatings of three white women would spend a few months in custody if they pleaded guilty to assault, a prosecutor said.
The 15-year-old Jordan High School students were offered a pretrial deal Monday in Inglewood, where their case is being heard.
They would spend no more than three months each in the California Youth Authority if they pleaded guilty to one count each of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, prosecutor Andrea Bouas said. The pleas would carry special allegations that the attack was a hate crime and caused great bodily injury.
Negotiations continued, however.
“The mother of one of these young men came up with a counteroffer: She does not want her son to admit to a hate crime because she does not view her family as hateful people,†Bouas said.
“The hate-crime charge carries a stigma,†said Stephen Bolinger, a court-appointed attorney for one of the youths. “They would carry that with them for the rest of their lives.â€
The case stemmed from last year's Halloween attack in the city's affluent Bixby Knolls section, noted for its elaborate Halloween decorations. Witnesses said black youths yelled racial insults and beat two 19-year-old white women and a 21-year-old.
One woman had more than a dozen facial fractures and is recovering from reconstruction surgery. A second was knocked unconscious and beaten with a skateboard, punched and kicked.
In January, eight Long Beach girls and one man, ages 13 to 18, were convicted of felony assault, and eight of them also were convicted of a hate-crime enhancement. They were sentenced to probation and house arrest after spending about three months in custody during their trials. Charges were dropped against a 10th defendant.
The lack of jail time has prompted a recall campaign against Long Beach Superior Court Judge Gibson Lee.
“No amount of time will make up for what happened,†Scott Bailey of the accountability group Government for the People said this week.
Family members of the convicted youths also have called for Lee's recall and said they intended to sue Long Beach for civil rights violations.
Black youths offered deals in Long Beach beating case
ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 26, 2007
LONG BEACH – Two black youths accused of taking part in the Halloween mob beatings of three white women would spend a few months in custody if they pleaded guilty to assault, a prosecutor said.
The 15-year-old Jordan High School students were offered a pretrial deal Monday in Inglewood, where their case is being heard.
They would spend no more than three months each in the California Youth Authority if they pleaded guilty to one count each of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, prosecutor Andrea Bouas said. The pleas would carry special allegations that the attack was a hate crime and caused great bodily injury.
Negotiations continued, however.
“The mother of one of these young men came up with a counteroffer: She does not want her son to admit to a hate crime because she does not view her family as hateful people,†Bouas said.
“The hate-crime charge carries a stigma,†said Stephen Bolinger, a court-appointed attorney for one of the youths. “They would carry that with them for the rest of their lives.â€
The case stemmed from last year's Halloween attack in the city's affluent Bixby Knolls section, noted for its elaborate Halloween decorations. Witnesses said black youths yelled racial insults and beat two 19-year-old white women and a 21-year-old.
One woman had more than a dozen facial fractures and is recovering from reconstruction surgery. A second was knocked unconscious and beaten with a skateboard, punched and kicked.
In January, eight Long Beach girls and one man, ages 13 to 18, were convicted of felony assault, and eight of them also were convicted of a hate-crime enhancement. They were sentenced to probation and house arrest after spending about three months in custody during their trials. Charges were dropped against a 10th defendant.
The lack of jail time has prompted a recall campaign against Long Beach Superior Court Judge Gibson Lee.
“No amount of time will make up for what happened,†Scott Bailey of the accountability group Government for the People said this week.
Family members of the convicted youths also have called for Lee's recall and said they intended to sue Long Beach for civil rights violations.
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