2 Charged in Boy’s Death by Drinking : Alcohol: The Thousand Oaks brothers face involuntary manslaughter counts. They are accused of daring Leland Scovis, 14, to chug whiskey.

Two Thousand Oaks brothers were charged with involuntary manslaughter Monday in the death last month of a 14-year-old boy whom they allegedly goaded into chugging part of a bottle of whiskey.

David Campbell, 29, and Patrick Campbell, 23, were expected to turn themselves in to Los Angeles County authorities this week for arraignment in the alcohol-poisoning death of Leland Scovis, the youngest of a group of five teen-age boys the brothers were chaperoning on a camping trip at Leo Carrillo State Beach.

The Campbells were each charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter, four counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Bail for each is expected to be set at $5,000, said Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Scott Gordon.

Another chaperon, Priscilla Vernon, 21, of Newbury Park, also is expected to surrender for arraignment on one count of being an accessory to involuntary manslaughter and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Vernon’s bail is expected to be set at $5,000, Gordon said.

Vernon is engaged to David Campbell and is the sister of one of the teen-age boys who attended what was to be a two-day camping trip, said Detective Jerome Beck of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

On April 14, the adults took the group--whose members ranged in age from 14 to 17--from their campsite to the beach about 10:30 p.m. and gave them whiskey and beer, said sheriff’s Detective Jerome Beck.

According to witnesses, the two brothers bet Scovis--the youngest member of the group--that he could not drink the 2 to 3 inches of alcohol left in a gallon jug of whiskey without getting sick, Beck said.

Scovis allegedly drank the alcohol rapidly and collapsed about 15 minutes later, Beck said. Two of the adults left the beach while one remained with Scovis for the next two hours, Beck said. The boy threw up and eventually began having trouble breathing, Beck said.

One of the Campbell brothers, whom investigators would not identify, carried Leland Scovis back to the campsite and began attempts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Beck said. Members of the group called rescue workers, and Scovis was taken by helicopter to the Westlake Medical Center in Westlake Village, where “his prognosis was very bad from the beginning,” Beck said.

Scovis, who was 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighed 155 pounds, had a blood-alcohol level of .46 when he arrived at the hospital April 15, said Bob Dambacher, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. The legal limit for a driver in California is .08 and a level above .35 “could be fatal,” Dambacher said. Scovis died two days later of acute ethanol intoxication, Dambacher said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gordon said the charges surrounding Scovis’ death were filed more than a month after the event because the district attorney’s office needed time to carefully investigate the case.

The adults had told authorities that two unfamiliar men walking along the beach gave Leland Scovis the alcohol while the rest of the group was at the campsite, Beck said. The teen-agers backed up the story until investigators began to question them individually, Beck said.

Involuntary manslaughter is punishable by a maximum prison term of four years, and accessory to involuntary manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of three years. Each misdemeanor count carries a maximum one-year penalty.