15-Year-Old Convicted in Fatal Stabbing : Court: Judge rules the youth was the aggressor when he killed a Rancho Alamitos High School football star during dispute in Garden Grove over a car.

A 15-year-old was convicted Monday of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing a Rancho Alamitos High School football star when a fight over a Volkswagen bug escalated out of control, officials said.

Gregory Allen Callison was 14 years old--and large for his age--when he stabbed 18-year-old Moudka Chounlamany during a March 8 confrontation on a Garden Grove street. Orange County Superior Court Judge Ronald E. Owen rejected Callison’s claims that he acted in self-defense, and found that the youth was the aggressor in the slaying.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Molko said Callison is a brash youth with a hot temper who insisted on challenging a group of four teen-agers--and then stabbed Chounlamany, a 5-foot-6-inch, 150-pound star running back who led his school to a sectional football championship last December.

“This is a big kid who wants to prove he’s in charge, he’s got a knife, and unfortunately he uses it,” Molko said of Callison. “He was the aggressor, and as the aggressor he has no right to self-defense.”

While juvenile violence seems rampant, it is still rare to find youngsters facing such serious charges in Orange County, defense attorney Julian Bailey said.

Bailey said he is disappointed with the judge’s decision and plans to appeal. He said his client believed he was about to be attacked by four teen-agers and stabbed the victim because he feared for his own safety.

“At the most, I believe this verdict should have been for voluntary manslaughter,” Bailey said, adding his client is distraught, depressed and extremely remorseful. “I think it’s also possible a jury could have found him not guilty.”

Molko said the incident began when Callison mistakenly believed that two teen-agers--including a youth who lived near Callison and Chounlamany’s younger brother, Tootoo, were tampering with his Volkswagen parked in the 12700 block of Louise Street.

Callison confronted the youths, punched one in the face and ran them off, Molko said.

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Moudka Chounlamany and a friend later picked up Tootoo Chounlamany and were escorting the other teen-ager back to his home in Callison’s neighborhood when the defendant approached their vehicle and punched the older Chounlamany in the face as he sat behind the steering wheel, Molko said.

When Moudka Chounlamany got out of his car, Callison stabbed him in the chest, causing a gaping wound that punctured his heart and lungs, Molko said.

Under state law, defendants must be 16 years or older at the time a crime is committed before prosecutors can seek to have them tried as adults. Callison is expected to be sentenced July 25 to the California Youth Authority. The judge has sentencing discretion, but under state law Collison cannot be held past the age of 25, Molko said.

Bailey said he is sure that all involved in the case can agree on one point: “This is a horrible tragedy that should never have happened.”