FULLERTON : 3-Year Term Given in Racial Beating

A teen-age skinhead convicted of the racially motivated beating of a Chinese-American youth and two of the victim’s friends was sentenced to three years in state prison Tuesday by a Superior Court judge.

Andrew Michael George, 17, of Whittier was the next to last of 10 neo-Nazi gang members to be sentenced for the July, 1991, beating of the honor student and his two white friends at Gilman Partin Park in Fullerton.

George was charged with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon--his fists and feet--and one count of committing a hate crime.

The Chinese-American youth was knocked unconscious by the gang members as they shouted racist slogans. His two friends managed to escape with minor bruises.

Eight of the gang members were tried as juveniles. One of them, a 15-year-old Huntington Beach youth, was sentenced to six years in the California Youth Authority for his part in the beatings. The other juveniles’ sentences ranged from six months to five years, Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary Paer said.

George and David Richman, 17, of Anaheim were tried as adults. Richman is scheduled to be sentenced Friday and is expected to be sent to state prison, according to Paer.

The victim, whose name was not released by police, recovered from the beating and is now attending college in Northern California.

Paer said Tuesday that he was pleased with Superior Court Judge Kazuharu Makino’s sentencing of George.

He said George made it clear in court that he wanted to go to prison and not to the California Youth Authority. “That is the opposite of what usually happens,” Paer said. “They usually ask for the CYA to avoid going to state prison.”