Suspect Minimizes Role in Death

The beating death of a homeless man in the Ventura River bottom came at the end of a wild night of partying and started with a quarrel over a marijuana bong, one of four teenage suspects in custody has told The Times.

Robert Allen Coffman, 18, said the attack, in which James Richard Clark, 58, was allegedly stomped on, beaten and smashed in the skull with a large rock, began after the four teenagers accused him of stealing their drug paraphernalia.

Coffman is charged with murder in the June 29 beating death, along with Timothy John Becker and Christopher Michael Dunham, both 18, and Rocky Mattley, 14.

“He was stealing our bong, and Tim wanted it back,” Coffman said. “He said finder’s keepers. He said it was his.”

At that point, Coffman said, the teenagers attacked Clark. While relatives of other defendants have described Coffman as the leader of the group, Coffman minimized his own role during an interview at Ventura County Jail.

He said he kicked Clark several times as he lay on the ground, but left while the Army veteran was still alive.

“They’re all trying to say I did it, but I did the least. I kicked him a few times but then I left for the beach,” Coffman said in the interview Wednesday afternoon. “The last time I saw him he was sitting up smoking a cigarette. I asked him if he was OK, and he said, ‘Yeah, just leave me alone.’ ”

Since his arrest, Coffman said, he spends most of his time smoking cigarettes and praying.

“I’m just hanging out, reading my Bible and praying to God,” he said.

Becker and Dunham are being held in lieu of $500,000 bail and Coffman in lieu of $1-million bail. The three are eligible for the death penalty.

Prosecutors have said they will ask a Juvenile Court judge today to try Mattley as an adult along with the others. Mattley is in custody at Juvenile Hall on a murder charge. While the three 18-year-olds have entered not-guilty pleas, Mattley has not yet made an admission.

Coffman gave his account of the night of Clark’s death partly in response to comments by parents of the other three suspects that their children had stayed out of trouble until meeting Coffman.

Neither Becker, Dunham nor Mattley, all from Ventura, have criminal records. In addition to the murder charge in the Clark case, Coffman of Ojai faces attempted murder charges in the stabbing of a man on the Ventura promenade on July 1.

Becker, Dunham and Mattley were not available for jail interviews this week to respond to Coffman’s comments. Their lawyers could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The confrontation between Clark and the four teenagers would not have happened had it not been for the argument over the marijuana bong, Coffman said.

Coffman said Mattley, who had lived with Coffman at times in an apartment off Ventura Avenue for the past year, had talked all day about a big party planned for an isolated stretch of beach near the Ventura River that night.

“Somebody told Rocky about this big party down at Hobo Junction,” he said. “We were just going to go down and kick it.”

Mattley led the others to the party past a desolate strip of beach across from the river bottom and about 100 yards from Clark’s encampment, Coffman said.

The four met up with several other teenagers on the sand, not far from Coffman’s favorite surfing spot. They drank beer and smoked marijuana from the bong.

Eventually they decided to leave the beach. The four headed up a dirt path toward the spot where Clark, a 20-year resident of the river bottom, had been living for several weeks.

As they walked along, according to Coffman, Becker told the group the bong was missing. They retraced their steps looking for it and came upon Clark who was holding the water pipe, Coffman said.

“I asked him for a cigarette and said that we had lost our water pipe,” Coffman said.

But Clark wouldn’t give it back, Coffman added.

Coffman said the four then started to punch and kick Clark, who soon fell to his knees. They then stomped on him several times as the homeless man begged them to stop, Coffman said.

Clark finally let go of the water pipe, Coffman said. But it was broken in the fight.

“Tim was bleeding,” he said. “I guess he cut his finger when the pipe broke.”

At that point, while Clark was still alive, the four teenagers decided to take off in separate directions, Coffman said. Coffman said he and Mattley headed toward the beach and Becker and Dunham took off in another direction. Feeling sick from drinking too much beer, Coffman said, he began vomiting on the sand. He said he looked up and Mattley was gone.

“I was really drunk, but Rocky and Tim just disappeared,” he said.

Sometime later Mattley, Becker and Dunham came back to where Coffman was on the beach and told him what happened, Coffman said. According to Coffman, they told him they had gone back to Clark and hit him over the head with a large rock.

The next morning, city maintenance workers discovered Clark’s body on his bedroll across from a bird estuary at the foot of the Ventura River.

Ventura police spokesman Quinn Fenwick would not comment on Coffman’s statements, but did say Thursday that there is ample evidence to show that all four suspects were equally involved in the slaying.

“We obviously have collected a variety of evidence and have talked to a number of people, including the suspects,” Fenwick said. “We wouldn’t comment on their stories at all, but what we have here is information and probable cause to arrest them all for murder.”

Since his arrest, Coffman said he has talked with Becker and Dunham during their court appearances and at the jail, and asked them to help him clear his name.

He said he has not spoken about the case with his attorney, Jim Farley. Farley said Thursday he expects to meet with Coffman next week. A preliminary hearing for the three 18-year-olds is set for Sept. 17.