A crime update for my neighborhood in the New, Improved, Diversity Is Our Strength California:
Thursday, July 19, 2001
3 rape suspects a 'threat'
Judge orders the teens to stay in custody pending their pleas next week. The case has their families in turmoil.
July 19, 2001
By GREG HARDESTY, JEFF COLLINS and BINH HA HONG
The Orange County Register
Relatives of three young suspects in a gang-rape case wept in court Wednesday as a judge deemed the shackled, slightly built teens dangers to society and ordered them to remain in custody until a hearing next week.
Lawyers for Veruk Kim, 17, Jesus Rene Green, 16, and Phu Quoc Tran, 15, told Judge Joy Wiesenfeld Markman that they needed more time to read police reports before their clients would enter pleas.
The three have been charged with more than 50 felony counts in the beatings of two boys, ages 16 and 17, and the gang rapes of their dates, ages 13 and 15, near a rock quarry in remote Black Star Canyon on July 3.
If convicted as adults, they could face multiple life terms in prison.
"Their families are devastated,'' said Tran's attorney, Douglas J. Myers.
In addition to the three minors, two adults have been arrested in connection with the attacks in the canyon east of Orange. Erick Oswaldo Rivera, 19, of Anaheim and Cuahutemoc "Temo'' Torres, 19, of Orange are expected to be charged soon.
Relatives and friends of the three teens watched Wednesday as the boys were ushered into juvenile court in Orange, handcuffed and wearing blue and green Juvenile Hall attire. Tran's mother burst into loud sobs.
She dabbed at her eyes with a blue napkin as another son consoled her.
Against the background patter of Cambodian, Vietnamese and Spanish translators, Kim's mother softly pounded her chest and mouthed words of encouragement to her son.
When Green stood before the judge, a tear trickled down the face of an aunt watching from the back of the courtroom.
Green's mother looked on stoically.
"Each of these three minors represents a threat to (society) and property," Judge Markman said in ordering that they remain in detention.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Claudia Silbar said the youths committed vicious crimes and should be tried as adults.
"These crimes are about as serious as you can get,'' Silbar said. "They acted like criminal adults, and they should be treated like adults.''
Myers, Tran's attorney, called that idea "problematic.''
"I believe a juvenile should be allowed to remain in juvenile court,'' Myers said. In most cases, juveniles convicted of crimes must be released by the time they turn 25.
Kim, Green and Tran are expected to enter pleas Tuesday.
The decision on whether to try the three as adults will be made by Markman at another proceeding after next week's hearing.
As the defendants' relatives waited for Wednesday's hearing to start, several of them scoured newspapers for accounts of the crimes.
But they shooed away reporters.
Green's mother, however, acknowledged that the Loara High School junior was with Rivera and Torres the night the crimes occurred.
But Consuelo Briones said committing such crimes would be out of character for her son, saying he had never been in trouble before and did not use drugs.
Asked to comment on published reports that the crimes occurred after a night of drinking and marijuana smoking, Briones said, "He's never done that before then."
She said she once asked her son to take a drug test, which was negative, because of his eight-year association with Rivera.
"I wanted to know for myself" whether he used drugs, she said.
Briones said she had met with her son since his arrest, but he wouldn't speak about the allegations against him.
Loara High School junior Montez Cook grew teary- eyed when a reporter told her of Green's involvement in the case and that prosecutors allege he participated in the rapes.
Cook said she had known Green for 1 1/2 years and had attended an Army Reserve Officer Training Corps camp with Green and Rivera, where both exhibited leadership ability.
"That's like my best friend - we were so tight," Cook said of Green. "He was so nice to me. ... He's a good leader, and he's like level-headed. He wouldn't be so stupid to do that."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
