Revenge Offered as Motive in Beating of 2 Homeless Men

Two 16-year-old boys accused of attempted murder in the severe beatings of two homeless men in a Burbank park may have been motivated by revenge, prosecutors said Friday.

The boys, both Burbank residents, denied the charges at an arraignment Friday in Pasadena Juvenile Court. Court-appointed attorneys for each declined to comment.

The homeless men, William L. Stahl, 44, and John M. Simpson, 33, are hospitalized in critical condition. Each is in a coma on full life-support systems, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Antoinette Brown said.

Witnesses told investigators that the boys, after the beatings took place Tuesday night in McCambridge Park, said they had randomly sought and beat transients in the park because a homeless man recently chased and might have raped one of the boys’ female relatives there, Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen S. C. Lee said.

“There were statements made to that effect,” Lee said. “We don’t know how valid they are.”

It is unknown whether any of the boys’ relatives were attacked or whether the boys had linked either of the beaten men to such an attack, Lee said.

One of the boys told investigators that he knew how to smash a 2-by-4 piece of lumber with a form of martial-arts kick and sometimes practiced doing it, Lee said.

Separate Attacks

The attacks occurred separately, Burbank Police Lt. Duane Dow said. The boys beat Stahl and were pummeling Simpson when they were interrupted by six men in their mid-50s who had been playing boccie, or Italian lawn bowling, Dow said.

“They went over and shouted at the boys to stop what they were doing,” Dow said. “The boys challenged them, but they didn’t back off, and the boys walked away.”

Moments later, the boys were beating Simpson again, Dow said.

A depression the shape of a bottle was found in Simpson’s skull, and a broken bottle was found near where he was lying, Brown said. Tests will be conducted to see if the bottle caused the injury, but no other weapon is believed to have been used, she said.

Pending a background investigation of the boys by the county Department of Probation, the district attorney’s office is seeking to have them tried as adults, Brown said.

Hearing Date Set

Pasadena Juvenile Court Judge Carol J. Fieldhouse set a court date of July 31 for a hearing on this point. If he decides to keep the case in Juvenile Court, trial would be set for Aug. 6.

One issue likely to come up at the hearing, Fieldhouse said, is whether prosecutors could show that the boys displayed sophistication in allegedly carrying out the beatings.

Brown speculated that part of the evidence would be disclosures that one of the boys went home and washed his clothes between the time of the beatings and the time he was arrested the next morning.

The boys are being held in Sylmar Juvenile Hall. Their attorneys did not seek their release.

Outside the courtroom Friday, the mothers of the two boys sat together, holding hands.