Hate Crime Victim’s Suit Seeks $2 Million

A 57-year-old man nearly beaten to death in one of Orange County’s most notorious hate crimes is asking a Superior Court jury to award him more than $2 million from the two men convicted of attacking him, and a third who was never arrested in the case.

Loc Minh Truong, who suffered permanent brain damage from the Jan. 8, 1993, attack on a rocky Laguna Beach shoreline, sat quietly Tuesday as his lawyer began the civil trial by urging the jury to hold the three men financially liable for the incident.

Two young men whom Truong is suing--Jeffrey Michael Raines and Christopher Cribbins--have been convicted of attacking Truong because they thought he was gay. Truong has said he is not homosexual.

He is also suing Edward DaCosta, a former police Explorer who was at the scene of the attack but maintains he had no idea his friends planned the assault or that it was likely to occur.

Truong previously reached a settlement of more than $400,000 with seven other teen-agers who were part of the group but also denied any involvement in the beating.

Russell Kerr, who is representing Truong, told jurors that his client cannot remember anything about the beating that broke his teeth, tore his left eye from the socket and left the back of his head impaled on a rock.

But he does know that his life will never be the same, Kerr said.

Truong, an electronics plant worker who was unemployed at the time of the attack, was left with memory problems so severe that he has to carry his address with him at all times to remind him where he lives, Kerr said.

His medical bills have reached almost $150,000, and the cost of rehabilitation over the course of his lifetime is estimated at $1.8 million, Kerr said. And because he is unable to work any longer, Truong stands to lose more than $112,000 in earning potential, according to his attorney.

During his opening statement, Kerr raised issues of group responsibility and accused DaCosta of purposely driving his friends to a beach near a gay bar knowing there could be trouble.

Kerr said that DaCosta never struck Truong but accused the college student of encouraging the attack and doing nothing to stop it once he saw what was happening.

“Mr. DaCosta ignored all the warning signs that were present,” Kerr said.

But an attorney representing DaCosta--the only defendant to appear in court Tuesday--said his client was “shocked” by what happened and did nothing to provoke the attack.

Stephen M. Coontz said DaCosta had followed Raines and Cribbins down to the beach to see what they were doing but ran away without ever inflicting a blow.

“He watched in shocked silence for a while, and felt sick to his stomach,” Coontz said. “His instinct was to turn and run the way he came.”

According to court records, the group of mostly high school students had been drinking and hanging out at a Laguna Beach nightclub when Raines suggested they “beat up” gays. Most of the defendants denied hearing such a statement and said they seldom believed what Raines said anyway.

Raines, who authorities said actually beat Truong, pleaded guilty last year to attempted murder and other charges, including the commission of a hate crime. He was sentenced to 10 years in state prison, where he remains today.

Cribbins, who authorities said started the attack by pushing Truong and then ran away, pleaded guilty to assault and committing a hate crime. He received a one-year jail sentence and was placed on probation for five years.

Neither Cribbins, who is expected to testify in the case, nor Raines has hired lawyers to defend themselves against the allegations of assault and civil rights violations.