Youth Held in Fatal Stabbing of Brother : Violence: Father wants his son released. He says knifing during an argument had to be an accident.

Orlando Buchanan first pleaded with the judge Thursday to release his son Steve from custody. Then he drove to an Oceanside mortuary to mourn another son who died at Steve’s hands.

The 41-year-old financial consultant has found himself hard-put to reconcile his quiet life--a family that included three loving sons in a tidy blue house with white trim--with his activities during the past week coordinating funeral services for 20-year-old Orlando Raul Buchanan Jr. and the defense of his 18-year-old son, Steve, who is charged with his brother’s murder.

Steve and Orlando Jr. got into an argument Saturday night while playing basketball in the back yard of their Oceanside home, authorities and family members said. The argument continued into the kitchen, where the youngest son, John Paul, 16, was fixing dinner.

Steve is accused of picking up a seven-inch kitchen knife and stabbing Orlando Jr. in the chest once, severing his aorta. Orlando Jr. died on the kitchen floor 30 minutes later, despite the efforts of neighbors and paramedics, officials said.

Their parents had been out of the house at the time of the stabbing.

The Buchanans said the incident could only have been an accident and that the brothers, who have roomed together since they were young, loved each other deeply.

“We know that it was an accident,” said Orlando Buchanan, a Panamanian immigrant who had the three sons from his first marriage.

The family’s attorney, Terry Allen, described the stabbing as an accident that took place after the two brothers’ tussle “escalated from kidding around to where it was a matter of pride that the older brother couldn’t let the younger one show him up.”

At one point during the argument, the younger brother picked up the knife and “spun around with the knife when Orlando grabbed at him, crashing into the knife,” Allen said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. James Valliant sympathized with the family’s grief but said that does not change the facts.

“The defendant picked up a seven-inch blade during the course of what he knew was a physical fight, and that blade landed six inches into his brother’s chest, and that is murder,” Valliant said.

Valliant said the deep knife wound is “unlikely to be an accident . . . and requires pushing and pushing.”

“He may have instantly regretted what he did, and he may have otherwise had a very loving relationship with his brother, but murder is murder,” Valliant said.

Neighbors said the Buchanan boys were generally very quiet and polite, and never caused the neighborhood any trouble.

“They were always very nice and would come by and say ‘Good afternoon’ or ‘Good morning,’ ” said neighbor Carol Smith.

Friends describe the three brothers as being friendly and close-knit.

“If one had a problem, all three of them had that problem, and you couldn’t upset one of them without upsetting all of them,” said Terre Hoskins, who has known the family for several years.

Thursday’s bail review hearing was a disappointment to the Buchanans, who were hoping to have Steve released into the custody of a family friend.

But Vista Municipal Judge Suzanne Knauf, saying she feared for Steve Buchanan’s mental and emotional well-being, set bail at $100,000.

Steve’s school counselor, Lillian Adams, testified that the student was looking forward to graduating in June and was “an excellent basketball player,” having played on the school’s team for several years.

“He was an above average student and always very polite,” Adams said outside the courtroom.

Another bail review for the El Camino High School student has been set for Monday, after the results of a psychological evaluation are returned.