COMPTON : Youth in Videotaped Beating Appears in Court

A teen-ager repeatedly hit with a baton by a Compton police officer in a beating captured on videotape was in Juvenile Court on Wednesday, though no criminal charges have been filed.

The hearing in Compton Juvenile Court, like all criminal proceedings there, was closed to the public. Soltero is due back in court Sept. 7 to learn if charges will be brought and whether he will be tried as an adult.

But Felipe Soltero’s attorney, Humberto Guizar, said afterward that if prosecutors decide to file charges against his client, he will take the unusual step of asking that the proceedings be transferred out of Juvenile Court.

“It’s a situation where they should have dismissed this case, and they’ve indicated to us that they may be filing felony charges in the adult court now because Felipe’s 18,” Guizar said.

Soltero was arrested July 29 at the Westland trailer park in Compton. The arrest gained national notoriety after a local TV station aired a videotape of it that showed Compton Police Officer Michael Jackson repeatedly striking Soltero with a baton.