Youth Who Killed Molester May Be Deported

The INS has begun deportation proceedings against Joeri DeBeer, the Dana Point youth convicted of killing his legal guardian, who had sexually abused him.

DeBeer was arrested earlier this month because he had committed a crime of “moral turpitude,” said Harold W. Ezell, western regional commissioner for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Because DeBeer was convicted of manslaughter, he is in violation of his non-immigrant student status, Ezell said Saturday.

DeBeer, 18, who has been released, declined to comment Saturday on the INS proceedings. The Netherlands-born youth has been living with a family in Northern California since he was released on probation from Orange County Juvenile Hall on June 20. DeBeer’s case attracted national attention when the jury that convicted him appeared at his sentencing and pleaded for leniency.

DeBeer was found guilty of manslaughter by a Superior Court jury for the April 9, 1985, shooting death of his legal guardian, Phillip A. Parsons. Parsons, a convicted child molester, was said to have molested DeBeer numerous times over four years and had tried to molest him again just before his death.

Set Body on Fire

DeBeer shot Parsons in the head, then placed his body in a van and drove to Riverside County, where he doused the body with gasoline and set it afire.

At the sentencing, the mother of the family with which DeBeer now lives, the 12 jurors and even the alternate juror in the case told the judge that DeBeer deserved special consideration because of what he had endured.

Facing a possible 14 years and 8 months in prison, DeBeer instead was sentenced to three years probation plus the 14 months he had already spent in Juvenile Hall. Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald passed the sentence in a dramatic courtroom scene that brought cheers from DeBeer’s supporters.

But because of the manslaughter conviction, Ezell said DeBeer was “completely out of status” and therefore in the country illegally.

“Once you’ve been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude, you cannot just go and apply for a readjustment of status,” Ezell said.

Judge to Hear Case

Ezell said that an immigration judge would hear DeBeer’s deportation case, but that the burden of proof would be on DeBeer to show that he should be allowed to stay. DeBeer’s attorney, Gary Proctor, could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Parsons was a Bechtel Corp. electrician who had met DeBeer when the youth was 13 and living in Saudi Arabia with his mother and stepfather. Parsons, who had previously pleaded guilty to molesting two 12-year-old boys, offered to bring DeBeer to the United States and promised to make him a motorcycle racing champion and become his legal guardian.

DeBeer was taken in after his sentencing by Syd and Jenny Ward, who live in the town of Oakley in Contra Costa County. DeBeer, who is currently enrolled in a junior college and undergoing counseling, met the Ward family through motocross racing with one of their sons.

DeBeer also was rearrested in August for a probation violation when he contacted his former girlfriend, who had testified against him at his trial. He received a 90-day sentence, which was stayed, and was ordered to appear Jan. 22 to prove that he has completed a term at school, has shown improvement in counseling and has broken no other laws.