Plea deal is offered in hate attack

Two black youths accused of participating in the Halloween night mob beatings of three white women in Long Beach were offered an out-of-court settlement Monday that would include a recommendation that they serve three months in custody.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Andrea Bouas said the offer would have the 15-year-old boys plead guilty to one count of assault by means of force likely to cause great bodily injury, and two special allegations: causing great bodily injury and a hate crime.

“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 in an interview, adding that settlement negotiations “are continuing.”

The offer was made before a pretrial juvenile proceeding in Inglewood. The high school students earlier exercised their right to have their trial moved from Long Beach to Inglewood so that the case would be heard by a judge rather than a court commissioner.

Nine other defendants in the beatings -- eight girls and an 18-year-old man -- were convicted of felony assault, and eight were convicted of a hate-crime enhancement in a politically charged trial presided over by Long Beach Superior Court Judge Gibson Lee.

Charges were dropped against a 10th defendant.

On Monday, supporters of the victims and supporters of the accused separately called for Lee’s removal from the bench, but for diametrically opposed reasons.

A judicial accountability group led by state Assembly candidate Michael Jackson and relatives of the victims recently served Lee with a notice that he be recalled from the bench because he sentenced the nine youths to house arrest and probation, despite a Los Angeles County Probation Department recommendation that they serve time in custody.

One of the victims is still recovering from facial reconstruction surgery. Another suffered permanent sinus damage and loss of peripheral vision. Both women lost a semester of college and are receiving psychological counseling.

“No amount of time will make for what happened,” said Scott Bailey, 31, a member of the accountability group Government for the People.

“Is the settlement offer insufficient? Absolutely. But given the juvenile system and the circumstances, it’s probably the best we can expect.”

But a spokesman for a group called Justice for the Long Beach 10 insisted that all of the black youths are innocent and pledged to appeal their verdicts.

“The judge needs to be recalled because this was a miscarriage of justice,” said James M. Thomas, pastor of Living Word Community Church in Los Angeles. “We are pretty sure these kids are going to be exonerated.”

Thomas’ group was expected file a claim in Los Angeles County Superior Court today against Long Beach for alleged civil rights violations, as well as alleged inconsistent statements by witnesses.

In a statement released Monday, his group alleged that the youths, while in custody, “were injected with an unknown substance and blood was drawn without notification or parental consent.”

“I have no idea what they are talking about,” Bouas said.

A pretrial juvenile hearing was scheduled for May 10 in the Inglewood courtroom of Judge Irma J. Brown.

louis.sahagun@latimes.com