Trial Ordered for Teens in Slaying of Transient

Two Ventura County teenagers were ordered Tuesday to stand trial on murder and robbery charges in connection with the fatal beating of a homeless man last summer.

Robert Coffman, 19, and Timothy Becker, 18, are among four teens accused of kicking and throwing rocks at 58-year-old James Clark as he lay in a sleeping bag near the mouth of the Ventura River on June 30.

During a preliminary hearing, Ventura Police Det. Pat Stevens testified that during separate police interviews, Coffman and Becker admitted participating in the assault.

The teens told police they stumbled on a “bum” while heading to a beach party with Rocky Mattley, 14, and Christopher Dunham, 19. The group took the man’s radio and backpack, which held a container of pennies, Stevens said.

Becker and Coffman told police the teens later went back, pelted Clark with the coins and began kicking him in the face, arms and chest.

Becker told Stevens that later that night Dunham and Mattley said they were “going to go back and mess with the bum some more,” he testified.

“When they came back, they told Tim Becker that they hit Mr. Clark with some rocks,” Stevens testified.

Dunham and Mattley are also facing murder charges. Dunham waived Tuesday’s preliminary hearing and will proceed to trial. Mattley is being prosecuted in Juvenile Court.

The four teens were arrested last summer within two weeks of the attack on Clark and have given conflicting statements to police about who struck which blows.

In arguing the case Tuesday, Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox told Ventura County Superior Court Judge Ronald Purnell that prosecutors believe all four teens are liable for murder because they participated in the attack together.