Youth Denies Stabbing Man in Racial Attack

Sitting in court without his parents, a 17-year-old Oxnard youth watched impassively Friday as his court-appointed attorney denied charges that the youth stabbed a black reggae musician in a racially motivated attack near the Ventura Pier.

The boy, with closely shaved hair and a long tattoo lining the nape of his neck, did not speak during the arraignment in Ventura County Juvenile Court.

At the request of prosecutors, Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren set a Feb. 22 hearing to determine whether the boy will be tried as an adult on one count of assault with a deadly weapon.

The youth is also accused of inflicting great bodily injury on Kerry Leonard Boles and committing a racially motivated crime. If convicted in adult court, he could receive 10 years in state prison, prosecutors said.

Boles, 37, was stabbed in the stomach Monday night after being bombarded with racial epithets as he and a woman sat near the pier. Four other teen-agers accompanied the defendant during the assault, but they will not face any charges, authorities said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kim G. Gibbons said prosecutors are satisfied that the defendant acted alone. “As far as I’m concerned, the incident is solved,” Gibbons said.

Deputy Public Defender James Harmon, who represented the youth in court, could not be reached later for comment. Perren ordered the boy held at Juvenile Hall until a determination is made whether he will be tried as an adult.

The juvenile is on probation, said the judge, who did not specify the boy’s previous crime.