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3 PLEAD IN PAINTBALL ATTACKS : VALLEY YOUTHS COULD FACE FOUR YEARS IN PRISON.


Byline: Jeannette DeSantis Daily News Staff Writer

Three San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley

Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills.
 teens involved in videotaped paintball paintball Sports medicine A sport in which marble-sized gelatin capsules filled with a nontoxic dye are shot at speeds of 300 kph/200 mph Warning:  attacks that gained national attention reached a plea agreement with prosecutors Friday and could be sentenced to four years in prison, prosecutors said.

Malcolm Boyd Malcolm Boyd is an American minister, activist, spoken-word artist, and author, born June 8, 1923.

Boyd became known as “The Espresso Priest” for his religiously-themed poetry-reading sessions at the “hungry i” nightclub in San Francisco.
, 19, Javier Perez, 17, and Anthony Skoblar, 18, entered their pleas after their attorneys negotiated for two hours with prosecutors in the chambers of Superior Court Judge Sandy Kriegler.

Boyd, who has been in custody for seven months, pleaded guilty to one count each of felony felony (fĕl`ənē), any grave crime, in contrast to a misdemeanor, that is so declared in statute or was so considered in common law.  vandalism and assault with a deadly weapon Assault with a Deadly Weapon is the term used to describe the act of threatening to harm one or more people by using a weapon (usually a firearm). Here, assault must be differentiated from battery as they are often confused. Assault is threatening to use force. , and three counts of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury.

Perez and Skoblar both pleaded no contest to one count of felony vandalism and four counts of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury.

As part of the agreement, prosecutors said they would not file charges against Skoblar for two acts of vandalism that occurred six months before the videotaped incident.

But Skoblar was ordered to pay restitution In the context of Criminal Law, state programs under which an offender is required, as a condition of his or her sentence, to repay money or donate services to the victim or society; with respect to maritime law, the restoration of articles lost by jettison, done when the  for the previous incident, which involved breaking a car window and spraying hair mousse on a car, the judge said.

``It took a lot of soul-searching to come up with the right sentences,'' said prosecutor Robert Cohen Robert Cohen may refer to:
  • Robert Cohen (acting theorist)
  • Robert Cohen (boxer)
  • Robert Cohen (comedy writer)
  • Rob Cohen, director
See also
  • Robert Cohan
  • Cohen (surname)
. ``Some people have called this a childish prank, but this went on for three nights. I don't believe that is what all kids do.''

The three will be sentenced July 8 in Kriegler's court. Although the plea agreement calls for four-year sentences, at least one defense attorney is expected to ask the judge for a lesser sentence.

``The sentence is way too much for a juvenile act done without thinking,'' said William Graysen, Skoblar's attorney. ``He is not the monster on the tape, he's really a decent human being.''

The fourth teen involved in the attacks, Ruffy Flores Flores, town, Guatemala
Flores (flōrəs), town (1990 est. pop. 2,200), capital of Petén department, N Guatemala. Flores was built on an island in the southern part of Lake Petén Itzá and on the site of the
 of Panorama City, who acted as the cameraman, pleaded guilty last week to assault with a deadly weapon and felony vandalism. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

Boyd, Perez and Skoblar, all of Van Nuys, entered their guilty pleas in connection with a series of paintball attacks that occurred in November along streets in Reseda, Sherman Oaks and Van Nuys.

Authorities said the teens admitted they went out for three nights and attacked a bicyclist with a bat and shot paintballs at pedestrians.

The boys can be seen laughing on the videotape as they fired the paintball gun from their car at unsuspecting pedestrians and cyclists This is an incomplete list. Please add to this list if you are aware of an omission. This is a list of cyclists by decade. Cyclists by decade
Cyclists before the 1880s
  • James Moore
Cyclists of the 1880s
  • Frank Bowden
.

Excerpts from the 20-minute videotape were broadcast on news programs across the country, and the attacks triggered talk show debate about whether they were childish pranks or serious crimes.

Diane Boyd, the mother of convicted teen Malcolm Boyd, appeared on the ``Geraldo'' and ``The Leeza Gibbons Leeza Kim Gibbons (born March 26, 1957) is an American talk show host. Gibbons is the host of her own radio show, Leeza Live, part of the Westwood One radio syndication company.  Show'' to publicly plead for mercy for her son.

In an interview before the hearing Friday, Diane Boyd said the vigorous prosecution of her son and his three friends was unjust and motivated by get-tough politics in a year when District Attorney Gil Garcetti Gilbert "Gil" Garcetti (b. August 5, 1941) served as Los Angeles County's 39th District Attorney for two terms, from 1992 until November 7, 2000. Background
Gil Garcetti received a bachelor's degree in Management from the University of Southern California and a Juris
 is seeking re-election.

``I don't think that any of these kids deserve the punishment they are getting for a first offense,'' she said. ``I know these boys and I know their families. They all come from wonderful homes.

``(Garcetti is) just doing this to get elected,'' Diane Boyd said. ``He's not looking at the boys or their backgrounds. They have never been in gangs, they never use drugs, or drink.''

Cohen cohen
 or kohen

(Hebrew: “priest”) Jewish priest descended from Zadok (a descendant of Aaron), priest at the First Temple of Jerusalem. The biblical priesthood was hereditary and male.
 admitted the sentences were stiff, but said there was no politics involved. ``There was no pressure from downtown,'' he said. ``We were told to do what was right.''

After the hearing, Nada Skoblar, Anthony Skoblar's mother, left the courtroom crying and covering her face from the cameras outside. Her son lunged at a television photographer and grabbed the lens of the camera. He grabbed another camera as his family walked to their car.

``Why are they destroying their lives?'' he asked as he followed his family to the parking lot. ``It is a lot of time.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Anthony Skoblar, 18, leaves Superior Court wi th his mother, Nada, after pleading no contest to vandalism and assault charges.

(2) Javier Perez, 17, stands outside court after entering his plea.

John McCoy/Daily News
COPYRIGHT 1996 Daily News
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 1996, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:Jun 1, 1996
Words:712
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