Lawyer: 2 Tried to Halt Rape in Canyon

Two of three teens accused of raping two young girls and beating their boyfriends in a late-night assault in Black Star Canyon tried to assist the victims but were overpowered by their companions, a defense attorney said Thursday.

Phu Tran, 15, and Veruk Kim, 16, tried to stop the attacks and were not involved in the rapes, said attorney Doug Myers, who is representing Tran, one of five suspects in custody in connection with the July 3 attack.

Prosecutors have said they will petition to try Tran, Kim and a third juvenile suspect--Jesus Rene Green, 17--as adults.

“They tried to say things and grab the [other] suspects but they were brushed away,” Myers said in an interview at the Juvenile Justice Center in Orange, where the three teenagers from Anaheim were arraigned Thursday. “They were scared of the older guys.”

Two adults accused in the crime--Erick Oswaldo Dominguez of Anaheim and Cuahutemoc Torres of Orange, both 19--are being held at the Orange County Jail on 39 counts each.

As relatives wept in the courtroom, Tran and Kim pleaded not guilty to 38 counts each, and Green to 39 counts. Charges include attempted murder, forcible rape, kidnapping and vandalism. Judge Joy Markman set a pretrial hearing for Sept. 7, and another Sept. 19 to determine whether the boys will be tried as adults.

The five suspects, members of an Orange-based tagging group Los Traviesos Krew, are accused of repeatedly raping two girls--13 and 15--and beating their boyfriends, 16 and 17.

The suspects also allegedly vandalized the victims’ car, parked in the remote east Orange County canyon while the couples took a late-night stroll. The suspects left but decided to return for some valuables in the car, officials said.

The five suspects were arrested days later after fresh graffiti was found at the crime scene.

Myers said Tran and Kim were helping to pull out the broken windshield when a fight erupted between the boyfriends and some of the suspects. He said one of the two boys later gave the 13-year-old girl a jacket to cover herself before the girls were dumped in a ditch.

He said Tran and Kim helped police with the investigation by identifying the suspects and returning to the crime scene to help police piece together what happened.

Myers said Tran and Kim did not report the attack to police afterward because “they were told to keep their mouths shut and they were scared for their lives.”

Prosecutor Jeff Levy declined to comment on the case, except to say: “They are criminally responsible for everything we’ve charged them with. I wouldn’t charge them if it didn’t exist. This was horrific what happened. It was absolutely gratuitous [violence].”