Suspect in Laguna Gay-Bashing Faces Hate-Crime Trial : Courts: Friend says near-fatal attack came without provocation. The San Clemente student could get 15 years in prison if convicted. Others may be charged.

Prosecutors Tuesday charged an 18-year-old San Clemente High School student with attempted murder and aggravated assault in connection with what authorities are calling a gay-bashing attack on a 55-year-old man who was alone on the beach.

Jeff Michael Raines is also charged with inflicting great bodily injury and committing a hate crime against Loc Minh Truong of Costa Mesa. If convicted, Raines would face a maximum 15 years in state prison.

“We believe that we have enough evidence to prove that these crimes were in fact motivated by discrimination or hate bias,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig McKinnon.

According to a police report of the Jan. 9 attack in Laguna Beach, Raines told police that he struck and kicked Truong several times because the victim cursed at his friend. Raines, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound ex-football player at the high school, told police he didn’t mean to hurt Truong, who is 5-foot-6, 120 pounds.

But “when someone insults my friend, they insult me,” the report quoted Raines as saying.

The 16-year-old friend, however, told police that Raines attacked the unsuspecting victim without provocation, the report said.

According to police, Raines and two friends confronted Truong on the beach, then said: “You . . . faggot . . . we’re going to get you!”

Another friend, a juvenile who did not see the beating, told police that Raines bragged later that “he just beat a guy up and smashed his face in,” the report said.

Raines’ attorney, Frederick McBride, Tuesday declined comment on the report. “I haven’t seen (it). I’m going to wait to read the report and not make any more comments until the dust settles down,” he said.

Truong was listed in serious condition Tuesday at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo. He has regained consciousness and was being sedated because of extreme pain, a spokeswoman said.

Similar charges are expected to be filed today against another man held in the case, Christopher Michael Cribbins, 22, of San Clemente, McKinnon said. He is being held in Orange County Jail on $10,000 bail.

The third suspect, a 16-year-old former San Clemente Police Explorer Scout, was arrested in connection with the beating Monday and released later that day to the custody of his parents. No decision has been made on whether he will be charged, the prosecutor said.

Tuesday’s arraignment in front of Judge Arthur G. Koelle in South County Municipal Court lasted only long enough for Raines, looking tired and haggard, to waive his rights to an immediate hearing. But that was ample time for his mother, who sat in the back, to look at her son as she swallowed back tears. She and her husband declined comment.

Raines is being held in Orange County Jail on $250,000 bail. He is to return to court for arraignment Jan. 21.

The violent beating that took place under a full moon on the rocky beach has shocked Laguna Beach, which has a large gay population, and galvanized city officials who have vowed to do whatever is necessary to prevent a recurrence in the city.

Tuesday night, about 75 people crowded into a special meeting held by school district and city officials, urging educators to do more to foster tolerance among young people toward homosexuals.

In the wake of the beating, Laguna Beach High School teachers are preparing to hold extensive talks with students about topics such as whether homophobic attitudes exist on campus and what might have motivated the violent attack, Supt. Paul M. Possemato said.

“In the next two weeks, we’re going to probe the youngsters on how they feel and what they believe,” Possemato said. “This is a societal issue, and it belongs in the school.”

City officials and activists in the audience urged that that school officials do even more, including taking part in a speakers program sponsored by the group Parents & Friends of Lesbians & Gays.

“We want to promote the safety and well-being of all our children, gay or lesbian,” said Elena Layland, a member of PFLAG.

Police said Raines, Cribbins and the 16-year-old allegedly confronted the victim about 1:30 a.m. Saturday on a stretch of beach behind three gay bars. They had gone there from a local non-alcoholic club, allegedly looking for gays, although Raines told police they were there for “a bathroom stop,” according to a police report.

The 16-year-old ran back to his car and did not participate in the beating, police said.

Cribbins allegedly shoved Truong down onto a rocky shelf on the beach, and then Raines allegedly “stomped” and “pummeled” him repeatedly, police and witnesses said.

Two men who were standing at the steps of Mountain Road beach and who witnessed the beating told police that they “thought the victim had already died as the suspect continued kicking him in the head,” according to the police report. The witnesses also told police they heard one assailant “screaming unintelligible things” during the attack.

The two witnesses later identified Raines as the principal attacker, the report said.

For his part, Raines told police that he “hit the guy with his fist a couple of times and also kicked him a couple of times,” according to the report. Raines also told police during his interview that “he was not sure if the man was a homosexual, but this was not a gay bashing,” the police report said.

Raines’ 16-year-old friend told police that Raines has told him on several occasions that he wanted “to beat up a fag.”

In response to the beating, the chairman of the Gay and Lesbian Community Service Center in Garden Grove said Tuesday that his group will begin holding therapy sessions and self-defense classes at the Neighborhood Congregational Church in Laguna Beach.

“I think it’s something that’s needed to happen for a long time,” said M. Dan Wooldridge, referring to the self-defense classes, which will be led by a karate expert. “But I think it probably takes a crisis like this to move something to the front of the agenda.”

The group therapy sessions are intended for anyone who has developed fears or anger as a result of the recent beating, said Wooldridge, who is also a Laguna Beach planning commissioner. The first meeting will be on Tuesday.

The self-defense classes for men and women will be taught during a six-week session beginning next month. To sign up for either group, call the center at (714) 534-0862.

Times correspondent Leslie Earnest contributed to this story.