3 to Be Tried as Adults in Woods Slaying : Courts: Judge cites the ‘senseless’ nature of Oct. 15 attack on youth at San Clemente beach, orders 17-year-olds to face assault, murder charges. A fourth juvenile suspect faces a similar hearing today.

A Juvenile Court judge on Wednesday ordered three juveniles to stand trial as adults for the slaying of 17-year-old Steve Woods, whose head was pierced with a paint roller rod at a San Clemente beach.

The hearing before Judge Frank F. Fasel will continue today to determine whether a fourth juvenile should also be tried as an adult.

Citing the “totally senseless and gratuitous” nature of the Oct. 15 crime, as well as the appearance of gang activity, the judge ruled that Julio Perez Bonilla, Hector Penuelas and Rogelio Vasquez Solis, all 17 and from San Clemente, should face assault and murder charges as adults.

The defendants face stiffer sentences--a potential minimum of 15 years in state prison--if convicted as charged in adult court. Juveniles can be held only until age 25 at the California Youth Authority.

Family and friends of both the defendants and victim packed the emotionally charged courtroom, some in tears.

The victim’s mother and sister, who wore a black T-shirt reading “Always in our heart Steve Wood,” smiled and cheered noiselessly as the judge made his rulings. The family members said they were hoping for the stiffest penalties possible.

“Revenge is not the answer,” said Kathy Woods of San Clemente, the victim’s mother. “But to save other human beings is the answer.”

The three defendants were sent to Orange County Jail on $250,000 bail and will appear for possible arraignment on Friday in Laguna Niguel Municipal Court. They face one charge of murder, 10 counts of assault and one felony count of throwing an object at a moving vehicle.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary Paer said he also will allege that the three are members of a gang, which would increase their sentences.

Woods was among 10 friends in several vehicles who were pelted with rocks, beer cans and other items by a group of 10 to 15 people as they tried to avoid a confrontation at Calafia County Beach Park in San Clemente, where they had gone after a football game, according to testimony and police reports.

Amid the breaking of windows, Woods, a passenger in the first vehicle to leave the parking lot, was somehow speared through the head with the metal rod of a paint roller.

Woods, who was in his senior year at San Clemente High School, fell into a coma after the attack and died Nov. 9, having never regained consciousness.

Paer has declined to say who investigators believe actually threw the paint roller that struck Woods. The paint rollers were reportedly in the pickup driven by one of the suspects whose father is a painter.

According to court records and police reports, Solis told police he threw a rock at the first vehicle, Penuelas admitted to throwing a stick at it, and Bonilla said he threw a metal bar, one or two feet long, at the same car. Bonilla is further alleged to have punched a friend of Woods’ before the fatal attack.

Paer disclosed Wednesday that the same group of defendants are suspected of trying to provoke a fight just an hour before the fatal attack at a beach off Linda Lane near San Clemente Pier. In that case, four people--who said their potential assailants were armed with metal pipes--were able to talk their way out of any trouble, Paer said.

Court-appointed lawyers for the defendants argued that trying the youths as adults would only be making a tragic situation worse. The defendants should have a chance to be rehabilitated in the juvenile system rather being sent to state prison if they are convicted, the lawyer’s said.

Although the outcome of the crime was tragic, defense attorney Dennis McNerney said, the actual throwing of items was a “spur of the moment act by a bunch of kids” and did not demonstrate hardened criminal action.

“If no one was hurt by this, it would have been just another Friday night,” McNerney said. “It’s a tragedy,” he said.

The lawyers submitted letters and called witnesses, including teachers and a youth leader, to say the alleged acts by the three youths were “out of character.”

One San Clemente High School tutor and translator called to testify described Bonilla as a “gentle giant” and Solis as a “natural comedian.” The boys worked hard at school and never posed disciplinary problems, she testified.

The four juvenile defendants are among a group of six charged in the case. One adult, Juan Enriquez Alcocer, 20, of San Clemente, was ordered last month to stand trial on murder and assault charges, while a second adult, Arturo Villalobos, pleaded guilty Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter and gang involvement.