Attack Suspect Faces Trial as Adult : Crime: Bail is set for 17-year-old charged in what civil rights activists have called a racial assault on 15-year-old Amber Jefferson.

An Orange County Juvenile Court judge gave prosecutors the go-ahead Wednesday to try a 17-year-old white youth as an adult for allegedly throwing the piece of glass that disfigured 15-year-old Amber Jefferson in what her supporters claim was a racially motivated crime.

As Amber’s mother sobbed, Judge C. Robert Jameson ordered Kurt David Wimberly held in lieu of $50,000 bail in connection with the Aug. 7 brawl outside the youth’s Stanton home. The incident became a rallying point for civil rights activists who have said the attack is evidence that racism is prevalent in Orange County.

“Because of the seriousness of the case and the failure to comply with court orders in the past, the court sets bail at $50,000,” Jameson said, explaining his decision to transfer the case to adult court. “Previous attempts to rehabilitate Mr. Wimberly have failed. In fact, he was on a furlough when this incident occurred.”

Wimberly is charged with felony mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon, infliction of great bodily injury, and battery. The judge’s decision Wednesday means that if convicted, Wimberly would serve all of his sentence in state prison rather than in a juvenile detention facility. Also, the offenses would become a part of his permanent adult record.

After the brief hearing, family members from both sides proclaimed victory.

“Thank God, we finally got a little something,” said Amber’s mother, Cody Donnelly. “I feel it should have happened a while back. . . . “

Wimberly’s relatives and friends also said they were pleased with the ruling because the youth will now face a jury trial, rather than the judgment of a single judge as would have been the case in Juvenile Court. Also, he will now be entitled to bail. He has been held as in a juvenile facility for the last two months.

“I think it’s great,” said 19-year-old Colleen Gallagher, who said she is Wimberly’s fiancee. “There’s more than a reasonable doubt in this case, and now he’s got bail, so an innocent person doesn’t have to remain in jail.”

On Aug. 7 Amber, the daughter of a white mother and black father, was injured in the parking lot of a Stanton apartment complex during a brawl. According to authorities, 12 people were involved in the fighting in which youths on both sides armed themselves with baseball bats and boards. Amber was the only one seriously injured.

She suffered an inch-wide gash from her temple to the side of her neck, and doctors say it will be at least a year before they can consider performing reconstructive surgery.

Amber and other members of the group she was with say that some of the whites in the other group hurled racial epithets before the fighting broke out. But prosecutors decided not to file racial hate-crimes charges, maintaining that the attack was not racially motivated. Although racial slurs were reportedly exchanged, the prosecution said, the confrontation resulted from an argument between two girls over a boy.

Besides Wimberly, authorities charged two others in connection with the case: Wimberly’s father, Earl, 42, was charged with assault and exhibiting a deadly weapon, and Trevor McClure, 21, another white, was charged with exhibiting a deadly weapon and challenging to fight. The only black charged was Louis Jones, 19, who was cited for fighting in public and malicious mischief.

The elder Wimberly and Jones are free on bail pending their next court appearances. Meanwhile, authorities have issued an arrest warrant for McClure, who disappeared shortly after the incident and has never appeared in court on the charges.

Defense attorney Salvatore Ciulla argued Wednesday that the stories from both sides are conflicting and that some witnesses have told investigators that someone other than Wimberly threw the glass shard that injured Amber.

“This was a street fight. Everything was a reflex to what was going on,” Ciulla said. “The seriousness of the injury has overshadowed this case to the minor’s detriment, and I don’t think this is appropriate.”

However, Jameson agreed with prosecutor Kathi Harper and a probation report, ruling that the case be transferred out of the Juvenile Court system. Although Juvenile Court records are confidential, he cited a previous conviction for residential burglary and two pages of violations in Wimberly’s Juvenile Court file.

Wimberly is scheduled to appear Friday in West Orange County Municipal Court to be arraigned as an adult on the charges.