Teen Who Helped Kill Transient Sent to CYA

A 15-year-old Ventura boy who participated in the beach-side slaying of a homeless man last summer will be sent to the California Youth Authority, not a treatment center for troubled teens, a judge ruled Monday.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge John E. Dobroth told lawyers he was not convinced the three-year program sought by the defense would rehabilitate Rocky Mattley as he struggles with anger and aggression brought on by an unstable family life.

“Rocky didn’t put himself here, his parents and his family did,” Dobroth said. “But Rocky has to live with that.”

Dobroth said community safety was also a factor in his decision because the out-of-state program could only house the boy until his 18th birthday. At the youth authority, Mattley can legally be held until he turns 25.

As Mattley’s mother and father wept in the courtroom, Dobroth addressed the boy directly, telling him bluntly, “Somehow you’ve got to suck it up and make something of your life, son.”

Monday’s ruling came after a lengthy hearing in Juvenile Court that included testimony from the boy’s psychologist, who recommended continued therapy, and statements from the victim’s family members, who asked for the harshest punishment possible.

Two months ago, Mattley was convicted in Juvenile Court of second-degree murder for participating in the June 30, 2001, slaying of James Clark, 58, a transient.

According to prosecutors, Mattley was one of four teens who stumbled over Clark while headed to a beach party near Surfers Point in Ventura. They allegedly stole Clark’s backpack, then kicked and beat him as he lay in a sleeping bag.

Clark died after suffering multiple injuries that included a crushed kidney, a broken rib and a possible skull fracture.

Police later arrested Mattley, Timothy Becker, 18, and Christopher Dunham, 19, all of Ventura, and Robert Coffman, 19, of Oak View. All four were charged with murder, but prosecutors decided to keep Mattley’s case in Juvenile Court because he was 14 at the time of the slaying.

During a four-day trial in March, a Ventura police detective testified that Mattley admitted kicking “a bum” in the legs and throwing a rock at him. The judge sustained a juvenile petition charging him with murder, finding that Mattley participated in the deadly assault.

At Monday’s sentencing hearing, defense lawyers tried to minimize Mattley’s role in the slaying, arguing that he was a tag-along to the older teens and not the instigator of the attack.

Deputy Public Defender Howard Asher said the best way to rehabilitate his client would be to send him to a treatment center for troubled boys in western Nevada.

The program does not accept repeat offenders and would give Mattley a nurturing setting in which he could get the education, counseling and training he needs to turn his life around, Asher said.

“This is an absolutely critical juncture in his life,” Asher argued. “What I have sitting next to me is not a violent individual, not an individual who cannot be salvaged. I believe Rocky Mattley deserves an opportunity to make [the program] work.”

But prosecutors argued that the program was insufficient, in part because Mattley would be released at age 18 and would likely return to his troubled home life.

According to court testimony, Mattley’s father went to prison several years ago for assaulting the boy’s mother. Prosecutor Maeve Fox said the father instilled white supremacist beliefs in his son, which she argued contributed to the boy’s disregard for human life.

Fox urged Dobroth to send Mattley to the youth authority, arguing that the state could keep Mattley longer while also giving him counseling and an education.

Trials for the other teens are expected to go forward later this year in Superior Court. They face mandatory life sentences if convicted.