Boy Guilty of Manslaughter in Classmate’s Death

A Simi Valley eighth-grader who fatally stabbed a 14-year-old classmate near a school bus stop was convicted of involuntary manslaughter Monday by a judge who expressed doubt that the boy intended to commit murder.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Allan L. Steele, acting as a Juvenile Court judge, decided that the boy was guilty of the least serious homicide charge, which carries a maximum sentence of four years.

Prosecutors had sought a second-degree-murder conviction, which could have sent the boy, now 14 years old, to the California Youth Authority until his 25th birthday for the slaying of Chad Hubbard.

Hubbard, a popular school baseball team member, was stabbed in the chest just after classes at Valley View Junior High School on Feb. 1 and died a short time later at Simi Valley Hospital.

Prosecutors had charged the juvenile with one count of murder. But at the start of the two-week trial, prosecutors acknowledged that Hubbard had started the fatal altercation by punching the defendant and challenging him to a fight. They argued, however, that the boy had no legal right to stab Hubbard.

The defense said the accused boy was only defending himself when he stabbed Hubbard, who was portrayed in court as the larger and stronger of the boys.