3 Accused in Attacks on Gays to Be Tried Under Rights Law

Three Huntington Beach men accused in two recent gay-bashing attacks in Laguna Beach will be prosecuted under a new state law making it a civil rights offense to harass people because of their sexual orientation, a prosecutor said Thursday.

The three men, described by prosecutors as members of a “skinhead” gang, also face charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and inflicting great bodily injury in connection with separate attacks July 15 on two gay men in Laguna Beach’s Heisler Park.

The defendants, John Michael Moore, 22, Stephen James Walter, 18, and Aaron F. Compean, 19, were originally charged with the lesser offense of assault after the attacks on a 23-year-old man from San Diego County and a 48-year-old man from Los Angeles County.

The civil rights and attempted murder charges were added to the initial charges last month after a review of the case by the Orange County district attorney’s office determined that the men had gone to Laguna Beach expressly to beat up homosexuals, Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas Avdeef said.

The case marks the first time that a defendant in Orange County has been prosecuted under the civil rights law, Avdeef said. He said he hopes that the prosecution will deter other gay-bashing attacks.

In Laguna Beach, the site of several attacks this summer, gay community leaders hailed the district attorney’s action.

“We’re sending a very clear message that you cannot come to Laguna and attack anyone, and that if you do, you will be caught and go to jail,” said Councilman Robert F. Gentry, the only openly gay elected official in Orange County.

Moore, Walter and Compean allegedly used a 2-inch-thick steel pipe in separate attacks against two men on the night of July 15, Avdeef said. The 48-year-old victim was knocked unconscious, suffering a head wound that required 80 stitches. He also suffered a broken shoulder. The 23-year-old victim was struck in the head and suffered a torn ear, Avdeef said.

All three defendants entered pleas of not guilty to the charges when they appeared in Orange County South Municipal Court for a preliminary hearing Aug. 31. The defendants, who are being held in Orange County Jail, will be arraigned Sept. 15 in Superior Court.

The attempted murder charge carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. If convicted of violating the victims’ civil rights, the men could face an additional three years in state prison, Avdeef said.

Laguna’s rash of bashings began June 18, when two men were assaulted and robbed by a group of men while returning from the beach near a gay bar district. An Orange County man lost his eye in that attack. No one was arrested.

On July 31, a man identified by local police as a transient was beaten and kicked in Heisler Park by three men who authorities said assumed that he was gay because the park is known as a gathering spot for homosexuals. The three attackers fired a gun, but no one was hit.

The Laguna council adopted a resolution Aug. 16 decrying the attacks and calling on the district attorney’s office to aggressively prosecute gay-bashing cases.