3rd Football Player Held in Fatal Beating

A third Littlerock High School football player was arrested Wednesday in the beating death of 18-year-old Christopher O’Leary, while prosecutors filed murder charges against the two players already held in the case.

O’Leary, an avid skateboarder, died Monday after being jumped by a group of football players at a party Friday night, authorities say. Some witnesses said O’Leary, who was white, made a racial slur against the players, who are African American.

But O’Leary’s uncle insisted Wednesday that the fight was unprovoked.

“Chris was just talking to his girlfriend,” said Dan O’Leary, describing what several of the youths at the party told him. “He wasn’t arguing with anyone. He’s not a bigot. He wouldn’t say anything racist to anybody.”

On Wednesday afternoon, deputies arrested a 17-year-old who is suspected of helping beat O’Leary, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Det. Ray Lugo.

The Sheriff’s Department did not release the suspect’s name, but sources said he was also a member of the Littlerock High School football team.

Prosecutors filed murder and assault charges Wednesday against Marcus Raines and Richard Newton, both 17. Sheriff’s investigators say they are seeking the same charges against the third youth.

The three, all from Palmdale, are being held in Sylmar Juvenile Hall, and arraignment for Raines and Newton is set for today, said a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. Prosecutors are petitioning to try the two as adults, and they could face life in prison.

Raines was the No. 2-rated high hurdler in California and an all-star linebacker. Newton was Littlerock High’s starting quarterback as a junior.

None of the teenagers had a disciplinary record, school officials said.

Also on Wednesday, authorities released preliminary results of the autopsy. O’Leary died of blunt force trauma, said Scott Carrier, a spokesman for the coroner’s office. He suffered brain swelling, Carrier said, which helps explain how he went home after the fight and fell asleep before his girlfriend noticed he wasn’t moving and called 911.

He was flown to Northridge Hospital Medical Center in critical condition at 4 a.m. Saturday and died Monday night.

O’Leary’s uncle said his nephew had no history of fighting, didn’t like to drink and spent most of his free time with his girlfriend.

Investigators said they hadn’t heard any accounts of racial slurs and concluded that the beating was unprovoked. Investigators Wednesday confirmed his age as 18, after initially saying he was 19.

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Gettleman is a Times staff writer and Risling is a Times Community News reporter. Times staff writer John Ortega also contributed to this story.