Oak Park Man Convicted in Fatal Stabbing of Boy : Courts: Philip S. Holsborg faces a maximum term of four years under the verdict of involuntary manslaughter.

An Oak Park man accused of fatally stabbing a 16-year-old boy last year was convicted Tuesday of involuntary manslaughter, the least serious homicide charge under state law.

Philip S. Holsborg, 21, faces a maximum term of four years in prison for the slaying of Craig D. Hastings, an Oak Park High School student. Holsborg could receive one additional year for using blade-studded metal knuckles in the stabbing.

Investigators said Holsborg got into an argument last Sept. 6 with a group of teen-agers who were making noise outside his condominium complex on North Oak Hills Drive.

After throwing bottles and pennies at the youths, Holsborg armed himself with the metal knuckles and a baseball bat and tried to intimidate them, investigators said.

An argument ensued, followed by a scuffle in which Hastings was stabbed in the groin with the metal knuckles, witnesses testified. The wound was only an inch deep, but it struck a crucial blood vessel. Hastings died after emergency surgery at a nearby hospital.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol J. Nelson argued that Holsborg was guilty of first-degree--or premeditated--murder because he had armed himself before the confrontation and used the baseball bat to distract attention from the metal knuckles.

Deputy Public Defender Todd Howeth said the slaying was an accident. He cited the location of the wound as evidence that it was not deliberate, but occurred when Hastings fell onto Holsborg’s fist during the scuffle.

The Ventura County Superior Court jury deliberated one day before reaching its verdicts late Monday. The verdicts were not announced until Tuesday so family members and friends of the defendant and the victim could be in court.

Before the jury’s decision was made public, Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. warned spectators against making an outburst or harassing jurors.

Most of the spectators showed no reaction as the court clerk read the verdicts: not guilty of first-degree murder, not guilty of second-degree murder, not guilty of voluntary manslaughter, but guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Holsborg also showed no reaction.

Howeth, who spoke with some of the jurors, said he believes that their verdicts were based on a failure of the prosecution to show that Holsborg intended to kill anyone.

Even so, Howeth said, his client “feels this was a terrible tragedy and that he is responsible for that boy’s death.”

“He brought the knife to the street, but he never intended to kill anybody,” Howeth said.

Campbell scheduled sentencing for April 21.