2 Guilty in Attack on Black Student
Two Antelope Valley teenagers, described by the prosecutor as white supremacist skinheads, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Van Nuys Superior Court to a racially motivated attack on a younger, black student at Antelope Valley High School last year.
Joseph Langford, 18, pleaded guilty to an attempted murder charge for stabbing a fellow student with a screwdriver on his way to class on Dec. 8, authorities said. He faces 10 years in prison for attempted murder, infliction of great bodily injury and committing a hate crime.
Langford apparently stabbed the student four times in the back while an accomplice kicked him and punched him, Deputy Dist. Atty. Carla Arranaga said.
Langford’s 17-year-old accomplice pleaded guilty to charges of assault and causing great bodily injury. He faces eight years in prison on the assault and hate crime convictions.
“They are both skinheads, white supremacists,” Arranaga said. “They apparently shouted ‘White Power’ at the time.”
Langford and his accomplice will be sentenced Dec. 10 in Van Nuys Superior Court. Both defendants were tried as adults.
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