Potential for Violence Cited : Stiffest Term Possible for 14-Year-Old Killer

A 14-year-old San Diego youth Monday received the stiffest punishment possible for killing his elderly next-door neighbor when the man surprised him during a burglary.

Superior Court Judge Norbert Ehrenfreund placed the boy, James Gary McClure, in the custody of the California Youth Authority, which by law can hold him until his 21st birthday.

Citing concerns about James’ potential to commit further acts of violence, Ehrenfreund rejected defense requests that the blond youth be placed in the custody of VisionQuest, an outdoors-oriented rehabilitation program that is less restrictive than the Youth Authority.

“It’s a placement that can deal, at least in some respects, with his problems, but it’s also a placement that will give some peace of mind to a public concerned about juvenile violence,” Ehrenfreund said of the Youth Authority.

The judge opened the proceedings to the media, in spite of James’ youth, under recent court precedents encouraging greater public access to Juvenile Court hearings in cases involving violent crime. Because he was less than 16 at the time of the offense, James could not be tried as an adult.

James was 12 on May 7, 1985, when--according to his admissions in court earlier this year--he decided to break into the house of Thick Lew, his 79-year-old Chinese-born neighbor in East San Diego.

The boy’s plan was simply to steal something. But Lew surprised him and the frightened James pulled a knife from his pant’s pocket and stabbed Lew once in the heart. Lew’s son, one of several relatives who visited Lew daily to prepare his meals, discovered the body hours later.

James was arrested ten days after the killing. Ehrenfreund barred prosecutors from using his initial confession to San Diego homicide detectives, ruling officers had misled the youth by saying he wouldn’t get in trouble by talking with police. But Ehrenfreund ruled admissible a later confession to a Florida girl who was in custody with James at a Florida juvenile detention center last year.

Ultimately, the youth pleaded guilty in June to voluntary manslaughter as part of a bargain reducing the charge against him from first-degree murder.

James’ eyes were downcast throughout the hearing Monday. His only words were a mumbled “No, Sir,” to a question from Ehrenfreund asking if he wanted to speak. He looked back at his mother, Jean, as he was led out of the courtroom. She continued to stare down a courthouse corridor even after he was out of sight.

His attorney, Robert Bourne, said after the hearing that James has had little to say about the killing during more than a year in custody.

“I’m sure he has remorse,” Bourne said. “James is a very inward person. He does not express himself very well. He’s not a loner, but he’s very reserved at Juvenile Hall.”

Bourne argued during the hearing that James stood a better chance of being rehabilitated if he were committed to VisionQuest instead of the Youth Authority. He said VisionQuest, which aims to build self-reliance and self-worth in delinquents by exposing them to challenging outdoor activities, was well-suited to the boy’s needs.

The Arizona program was the only one of eight residential centers contacted by the county that was willing to accept James, according to Probation Officer Karole Gustafson. The others rejected him because of the seriousness of the offense to which he pleaded guilty, she said.

At the Youth Authority, Bourne said, James would be surrounded by older, seasoned criminals in a setting “extremely non-conducive to rehabilitation.” According to Youth Authority statistics, only 75 of the 7,640 youngsters in its institutions were 14 or younger as of June 30.

“The population is considerably older than James, considerably more hardened and considerably more experienced in the ways of crime,” Bourne said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Dennis Olson asked Ehrenfreund to follow the Probation Department’s recommendation and place the boy in Youth Authority custody. Olson said James would be placed with youths close to his own age at the Nelles School in Whittier.

Explaining his decision to commit James to the Youth Authority, Ehrenfreund read from a psychologist’s report that found the boy had “deep-seated” anger arising from hurt during his childhood at the hands of his father and his peers.

Ehrenfreund said the report indicated that the boy’s anger might spur him to further acts of violence if he did not learn to control it. “James represents, to some degree, a danger to the public,” Ehrenfreund said.

Bourne estimated that the Youth Authority would hold McClure no more than two to three years--about the same period that VisionQuest estimated would be necessary for his rehabilitation. The agency has broad discretion in releasing its wards, but cannot keep them in custody beyond the age of 21.

Lew, who came to the U.S. from Canton, China, prided himself on living alone and maintaining his independence, according to Olson. He stuck strictly to habits--going daily, for instance, to a neighborhood McDonald’s restaurant to drink coffee and visit friends for a few hours, though he spoke little English.

No members of Lew’s family were in court Monday.