Boy, 17, Guilty of Murder in Shooting of Youth at Beach : Justice: Christian Steffens could be sentenced to youth authority custody until he turns 25. The public defender in the case says there will be an appeal.

A Juvenile Court judge Friday found a 17-year-old youth guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of another teen-ager on a Dana Point beach last summer.

Christian Steffens, who was 16 when he fatally shot 18-year-old Rob Elliott on a stretch of beach known as the Strands, could be sentenced to confinement at a California Youth Authority facility until his 25th birthday. Judge Francisco P. Briseno set a sentencing hearing for July 12.

After the judge issued his ruling without explanation, Steffens turned to his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Marri Derby, and asked: “What does this mean?”

“It means we appeal,” she answered.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bernadette Cemore said afterward that she was delighted with the judge’s ruling.

“The defense argued that (Steffens) was in imminent danger and fired in self-defense, but the evidence just wasn’t there to show that,” Cemore said.

According to testimony in the monthlong trial, Steffens and Elliott had had a fistfight at the beach a few days before the shooting. The next day, two of Elliott’s friends went to Dana Hills High School and threatened Steffens, witnesses said. Steffens, after that, got a gun from a co-worker at a pizza parlor and told friends he would shoot Elliott if Elliott did not leave him alone, witnesses said.

On Sept. 8, 1990, the day of the shooting, Steffens was at the beach. He drew the gun from a holster when he saw Elliott with a friend on the bluff above him. A beach-goer who was videotaping his son as the son was out surfing saw the confrontation and caught a few seconds of it on videotape. It shows Steffens pointing a gun up toward the bluffs and Steffens and Elliott arguing loudly.

After the man turned his video camera back to the waves, witnesses said, Steffens put the gun away and started to walk off. Elliott followed him for several hundred yards along the beach.

Steffens fired a shot at Elliott after Steffens fell to his knees and after Elliott had stopped at least 30 feet behind him, witnesses testified.

Derby said prosecutors had offered to let her client plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter, which would have meant a four-year term at a Youth Authority facility. She said she rejected the offer after long discussions with members of Steffens’ family, who believe that he fired only in self-defense.

The judge indicated in comments Wednesday that although Steffens may not have intentionally killed Elliott, he may be guilty of second-degree murder under the implied-malice theory--that is, that he should have known his conduct could have resulted in someone’s death.

Steffens showed no visible emotion as he listened to the judge’s verdict.

His parents and grandparents, who had sat in the courtroom each day during the trial, left angry.

But it was Steffens’ attorney who was crying.

“I’m devastated,” Derby said later. “This is a good kid with no criminal record who is going to spend years at (the Youth Authority), institutionalized with a group of kids with criminal attitudes. It’s going to do much more harm than good.”

Steffens’ parents held one another’s hands as they tried to control their emotions before the news cameras outside the courtroom.

“The judge obviously did not see that Christian was in fear for his life,” said his father, Don Steffens.

The judge had asked Derby questions about implied malice on Wednesday after Derby had delivered her closing arguments.

“I knew then that’s where his thinking was and that we were in trouble,” Derby said. “But if someone who is going to beat the crap out of you and could kill you by taking the gun away from you is coming at you, what are you supposed to do?”

Steffens’ family, however, said the judge’s comments on Wednesday did not indicate to them what his verdict might be.

“We were not prepared for this at all,” said his mother, Cynthia Steffens. “We are still trying to understand what the judge based this on.”

The boy’s grandfather, Philip Alexander, a 22-year police veteran in Los Angeles County, was angry that the judge had disallowed much of the defense evidence about the victim’s ties with skinheads.

“The skinhead evidence would have added credibility to Christian’s statements why he was afraid of Elliott,” Alexander said. “I don’t understand why the judge and the prosecutor did not want to hear any evidence that would have shown the truth.”

Cemore, however, argued that evidence of Elliott’s affiliation with skinheads and Steffens’ fear of Elliott were not relevant to what happened the moment Steffens pulled the trigger.

“The issue is: Was he in imminent danger of great bodily harm or being killed?” she said. “The evidence shows he wasn’t. He didn’t have the right to shoot somebody. I think the judge weighed the evidence carefully and gave us the benefit of his legal experience.”

Cemore had argued that there was some evidence of premeditation, that several seconds had passed during the standoff at the beach before Steffens fired. Her main argument, though, was that the shooting was a second-degree murder.

The Steffens family home was on the bluffs overlooking the Strands at the time. The day after the shooting, the family moved.

“My daughter was in fear there would be retaliation against her younger son,” Alexander said.

Alexander agreed that his grandson was not blameless.

“He was a 16-year-old who made stupid 16-year-old mistakes,” Alexander said. “He should never have gotten that gun. He should never have tried to be self-reliant. He was stupid, but that doesn’t mean he was a murderer.”