Simi Valley Teenager Admits Role in Racial Beating

A fourth teenager sympathetic to the white power movement admitted guilt Thursday in the racially motivated beating of a black youth in Simi Valley last month.

During a pretrial hearing, the 16-year-old, whose name was withheld because of his age, also apologized to the judge for participating in the attack on Jim King, 17, of Reseda on Dec. 6.

“He wanted the court to know how he wants to change his ways and not continue to hang around with that type of crowd,” said prosecutor Bernardo Gonzalez.

The teenager, a student at Monte Vista, an independent study school in Simi Valley, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 31.

King had testified that four white teens -- three 16-year-old Simi Valley residents and a 17-year-old from Granada Hills -- shouted racial slurs at him outside a shopping center on Los Angeles Avenue where he was selling newspaper subscriptions. As he tried to run away, he tripped over a planter and fell, injuring his knee. The four then hit and kicked him. He was treated at a hospital.

Police reported finding white power and skinhead paraphernalia in a vehicle in which two suspects fled.

Searches of the four teens’ homes uncovered additional hate literature downloaded from the Internet.

Last week, a judge found one of the teenagers guilty, and two others admitted guilt a day later.

All four remain in custody at Juvenile Hall in El Rio and face up to eight years of confinement.

“It’s extremely scary to know there’s a subculture out there that has a basic belief they are better than anyone of color and think it’s totally accepted to commit violence against anyone who isn’t white,” said lawyer Steve Rodriguez, who represents King.