2 Teens Admit to Racial Beating

Two teenagers admitted guilt Wednesday in a racially motivated beating of a black youth in Simi Valley last month, authorities said, a day after another teen was found guilty in the same crime.

A 16-year-old Simi Valley resident, who authorities believe instigated the altercation, and his 17-year-old friend from Granada Hills admitted to a petition charging them with two felony counts in connection with the Dec. 6 hate crime.

Both teens, whose names were withheld because of their ages, are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 19. Each could face up to eight years in custody.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Brian Back accepted the prosecution’s request to have the 17-year-old, who was freed after his arrest last month, immediately placed in custody at Juvenile Hall in El Rio.

Philip Dunn, a Westlake Village lawyer representing the 16-year-old Royal High School student, declined to comment on the case.

The defense attorney representing the 17-year-old did not return calls.

The teens’ admissions came one day after a Superior Court judge found another 16-year-old Simi Valley resident guilty of the same crime.

A trial for a fourth suspect, also a 16-year-old Simi Valley resident, is scheduled for Jan 31.

Victim Jim King, 17, testified earlier this week that the white teens shouted racial slurs at him outside a Simi Valley shopping center where he was selling newspaper subscriptions. As he tried to run away, he tripped over a planter and fell to the ground, injuring his knee. No weapons were used.

Police said white power and skinhead paraphernalia was found in a vehicle that two of the suspects used to flee the scene. Subsequent searches of the homes of all four suspects uncovered additional hate literature downloaded from the Internet, said Stacy Ratner, senior deputy district attorney.

“I think Jimmy King is going to find justice,” she said. “The scars and injuries he sustained will, of course, be with him for a while. But his family and the rest of the community should feel satisfied that the district attorney and local law enforcement has zero tolerance for this type of behavior.”