THOUSAND OAKS : 3 Plead Innocent in Drinking Death

Two brothers from Thousand Oaks pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of involuntary manslaughter in the April death of a 14-year-old boy whom they allegedly goaded into chugging whiskey, authorities said.

David Campbell, 29, and Patrick Campbell, 23, were arraigned in Santa Monica Superior Court 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, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Scott M. Gordon said.

The Campbells are 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. They remain free on $5,000 bail each, which they posted when they were arrested in May.

Another chaperon, Priscilla Vernon, 21, of Newbury Park pleaded not guilty to being an accessory to involuntary manslaughter and to five counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Vernon, who is free on her own recognizance, is the sister of one of the boys on the trip and is engaged to David Campbell.

They were ordered to stand trial by Malibu Municipal Judge Lawrence J. Mira during a preliminary hearing last month.

No date has been scheduled for the trial, but pretrial motions in the case will be heard Oct. 12, Gordon said.

Leland Scovis was invited on the April 14 camping trip by Vernon’s brother, a friend of his, according to testimony given during the preliminary hearing.

At the beginning of the trip, David Campbell told a park ranger he would take responsibility for the boys and then supplied them with alcohol, witnesses said. Patrick Campbell allegedly bet Leland that he could not drink the two to three inches of alcohol left in a half-gallon jug of whiskey without getting sick, according to testimony.

Leland drank the whiskey and collapsed shortly afterward, witnesses said. He vomited and over the next one or two hours, and Patrick Campbell cleared his airway to help him breath.

He and the boys also tried to revive Leland by dragging him to the ocean’s edge and letting cold water wash over him.

After Leland’s breathing problems worsened and he stopped breathing, David Campbell administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the boy was taken to Westlake Medical Center in Westlake Village. He died two days later.