Hearing Delayed for 3 Youths in Stabbing

A juvenile court hearing Friday was postponed until next month for a Thousand Oaks youth and two other teen-agers accused of participating in the robbery and killing of an Agoura Hills teen-ager and the wounding of another.

The continuance was granted by San Fernando Valley Juvenile Court Commissioner Jack Gold because an attorney for one of the defendants--a 17-year-old Westlake Village boy--was only recently appointed to the case. The hearing, the equivalent of a preliminary hearing in adult court, is now set for July 24.

A hearing to determine if the three youths--including a 17-year-old from Agoura Hills and a 15-year-old from Thousand Oaks--will be tried in juvenile or adult court will also be held that day. If convicted in juvenile court, the maximum sentence they would face is incarceration until their 25th birthdays.

In adult court, a conviction could mean life in prison.

The three teen-agers as well as two Ventura County 18-year-olds--Brandon Wade Hein of Oak Park and Jason Holland of Thousand Oaks--are accused of participating in the fatal stabbing of James Farris III and the wounding of Michael McLoren, both 16, during a May 22 robbery attempt in McLoren’s back-yard clubhouse.

Police said the two 16-year-olds were attacked when they would not turn over a locked boxed that contained marijuana and cash.

Hein was ordered to stand trial on murder and attempted murder charges after a June 7 preliminary hearing. He will be arraigned Thursday in Santa Monica Superior Court. Holland, who turned himself in to police Monday after eluding authorities for three weeks, is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Malibu Municipal Court.

Bruce Jones, an attorney for the 17-year-old from Agoura Hills, has subpoenaed McLoren--who has recovered from his wounds--to testify in juvenile court that his client was not among those present during the attack. Jones maintains that his client was waiting in a vehicle outside the house and was not aware that the two 16-year-olds would be hurt.

Gold also ordered the McLoren family not to tear down the back-yard clubhouse until defense attorneys have had an opportunity to examine it. Ellery Sorkin, an attorney representing the McLoren family, said that they wished to do so.

“They look out in the back yard and they see a reminder of the tragedy,” Sorkin said.