Suspect in Beating of Black Youth Arraigned Under Special Hate Law : Crime: His lawyer, however, says that his client is a victim, having lost his job, been threatened and his car vandalized.

A man accused of beating a 12-year-old black youth was arraigned in Municipal Court here Tuesday under a special hate-crime law.

Municipal Judge Blair Barnette ordered Paul Richard Klein, 28, to appear in court Aug. 21 for a pretrial hearing. Klein, who is free on his own recognizance, also faces two counts of misdemeanor assault and battery.

The hate-crime statute, a state law passed in 1988, carries penalties of up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine. The assault counts each carry six-month prison terms and a $1,000 fine.

Prosecutors allege that Klein became enraged on June 30 when he was driving in Mission Viejo and spotted the boy walking with several white children.

Klein stopped his car and shouted several racial epithets at the group, then attacked the boy, hitting him in the ribs and slapping his face, the child’s family claims.

But on Tuesday, Klein’s attorney told a different story. Joseph A. Dickerson denied that his client had shouted slurs or assaulted the child, saying that the face slap came only after the boy provoked Klein by calling him a “honky white boy.”

Since the incident, Klein has been the victim of prejudice himself, Dickerson said. A seven-year employee at Super Shops auto stores, Klein was recently fired, was threatened with violence over the phone and had paint-remover poured over his car late at night last month, the attorney said.

“His life has been turned upside down,” Dickerson said. “If you want to know who the victim has been, try Mr. Klein.”

Klein moved from his apartment after the threats and vandalism occurred, Dickerson said. He also recently found another job, the attorney added.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig McKinnon said he will prove that there was a racial motive for the alleged beating.

“During the attack, he yelled things about (the boy) being with white girls,” McKinnon said. “That indicates to me that there was race involved.”

McKinnon said that a woman sitting in a nearby parked car witnessed the attack, although she couldn’t hear what was being said.

In court, the judge mentioned that Klein has a record of violence, citing a 1983 arrest for assault and battery in Memphis, Tenn.

“There wasn’t any race incident involved with that,” the defense attorney said later. “I am certain of it. This man is just not a racist or some kind of redneck.”

McKinnon said the victim’s age will also have a bearing.

“That situation aggravates the charges,” he said. “The child was half (Klein’s) age and half his weight. It was not exactly a fair fight.”