Inaction by D.A.’s Office in Schoolyard Death Decried

Five months after 13-year-old Stephan Corson was killed in a schoolyard fight in Palmdale, the district attorney’s office has yet to decide whether charges should be filed against the boy who threw the fatal punch.

Both families say the inaction has been wrenching. Stephan’s mother said she aches for justice for her dead son, her “little man,” as she called him. And the father of the other boy insists that his 14-year-old son fought in self-defense and should have been told by now that he won’t be charged with murder.

“This delay is beyond ridiculous,” said the 14-year-old’s father, whose name is being withheld to protect his son’s identity. “When I talked to the sheriff’s deputies, they said it would be a week or two before we knew what the D.A. was going to do. That was a couple months ago.”

According to Los Angeles County sheriff’s reports, Stephan and the other boy exchanged words in class after a paper-throwing incident on Nov. 19 at Juniper Intermediate School. When class let out, Stephan attacked the other boy, investigators said. The other boy fought back, slugging Stephan in the face and knocking him to the pavement. He died 40 minutes later.

The key question prosecutors must now answer is whether the 14-year-old acted in self-defense.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Yochelson said Tuesday that he has spent “just 10 minutes” on the case, because he has been swamped with other work.

Through a spokeswoman Thursday, however, Yochelson said he plans to make a decision today.

Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti said he sympathizes with the family of the 14-year-old. The boy’s father said his son has had nightmares that he will be sent to an adult prison.

“I know his parents want us to resolve this thing, and of course we don’t want to hang them out to dry,” Garcetti said. “But we have to be thorough.”

The boy was expelled from school in February, though the district is providing schooling at home.

Corson’s family, which is African American, has raised concerns that authorities have been lenient with the other boy because he is white. Both the school district and prosecutors deny that.

Last month, Mary Corson filed a $10-million wrongful death lawsuit against the school district, contending that the fight was a result of poor supervision. Her lawyer, Melanie E. Lomax, said the delay in deciding about possible charges is “bewildering” because the case is not complicated.

Sheriff’s detectives finished their investigation in December but waited until February, when the final autopsy was finished, to forward the file to the district attorney’s office, authorities said.

It has been in Yochelson’s office since Feb. 11, said Sandi Gibbons, a Garcetti spokeswoman.

Cases that don’t involve a suspect in custody are dealt with after those that do, Gibbons said. She said two months is not considered a long delay.

Stephan’s mother has said the other boy should be charged with manslaughter, but the boy’s father said his son is “the one who got attacked.”

The two families have never talked. They live on opposite sides of town.

“Part of me wants to call her and tell her how sorry I am,” said the boy’s father. “But I know that when I hear her voice, I wouldn’t know what to say.”