Teen’s defense says hate motive is not proved

The defense opened in the Long Beach beating trial Friday with the lawyer for a 14-year-old black girl asking the judge to dismiss a hate crime enhancement for lack of evidence.

Attorney Jack A. Fuller argued that the prosecutor failed to offer proof that either the girl or her nine co-defendants uttered the racial slur that is the basis for the enhanced charge.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Andrea Bouas argued that the 10 defendants mobbed the victims when an unidentified male voice said, “I hate [expletive] white people.”

Witnesses have said up to 30 black youths joined in the beating of three white women, as an even larger crowd looked on.

“They wouldn’t move toward them if they didn’t share these ideas or thoughts,” said Bouas.

Judge Gibson Lee recessed for the day before both sides had finished making their arguments. The judge and several attorneys planned to visit the crime scene in the evening to get a better idea of what witnesses could have seen, at what distance, during the Halloween night attack.

The 10 juvenile defendants -- nine female, one male -- are charged with assault with intent to cause great bodily injury. Eight of them face a hate crime enhancement to their sentence.

The prosecution rested this week, setting the stage for defense motions to dismiss for lack of evidence. When the trial resumes next week, a majority of attorneys are expected to make similar motions.

The minors on trial, ages 12 to 18 years, were detained the night of the attack when police found them in a nearby parking lot in two red cars similar to ones that had been seen leaving the melee, according to testimony.

The cellphone of one of the victims was discovered in one of the cars.

The prosecution relied on two witnesses -- a bystander, Kiana Alford, and victim Loren Hyman -- to testify that each of the 10 took part in the attack.

Hyman identified four, Alford eight. Both said they recognized the assailants based on the clothing or jewelry they were wearing.

But on cross-examination, Alford testified that it was too dark and chaotic to see what individuals did during the attack.

She testified that when police took her to view the 10 suspects in the parking lot, officers told her they had caught the assailants, and she felt it was her responsibility to identify them as such. She testified that she could not remember anything about how the minors looked until she saw them in the parking lot.

Without Alford’s testimony, only four of the 10 defendants have been linked to the crime in court.

Fuller’s client was identified by both Hyman and Alford. Hyman told police, “Yeah, that’s the one that beat up my friend,” according to a police statement.

Alford told police she was “the one that was throwing lemons. She hit at least two people with them.”

In court on Friday, Fuller said Bouas had to show that each minor charged with a hate crime “is motivated by hate.”

“Out of 30 people that night, only one person made a statement to show hate was a motivation,” he said. “You can’t just take hate and wipe it on everyone who was there.”

Bouas countered that “there was no other reason to beat [the women] other than she was following in the hateful attack.”

There were varying accounts given to police about how the beating started. The defense plans to introduce several witnesses who reportedly told officers that the attack began when a male kicked Hyman, and she turned around and punched one of the black girls she mistook for her assailant.

The judge will decide the motion to dismiss based solely on the evidence provided by the prosecution, however.

Another witness for the defense, a 15-year-old boy, said he was walking home when he came upon the “fight.” His stepfather took him to police when the boy told him what he saw.

The teen said that five to 10 black girls were fighting two of the white women, who were punching back. He testified that he could not identify the assailants because of the darkness.

But he said he recognized the one male defendant, Anthony Ross, 18, from school. The witness testified, however, that Ross did not take part in the beating.

joe.mozingo@latimes.com