TEEN FIT FOR TRIAL AS ADULT BEATING SUSPECT NOT JUVENILE, JUDGE SAYS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

SYLMAR - Former Littlerock High School football star Rodney Woods was ordered Friday to stand trial as an adult in the fatal beating of a former schoolmate at a teammate's birthday party.

Deputy District Attorney Melissa Decker said Woods instigated and engaged in the attack on Christopher O'Leary, and according to one witness kicked him three times.

``He's a football player. He knew not to kick someone who, one, is defenseless; two, who is unsuspecting; and three, who has no argument with him,'' Decker told Judge Morton Rochman. ``The crime was senseless. It was nothing more than an ego boost.''

Woods' school disciplinary record indicated he had been involved in two fights, but was not properly disciplined. He was suspended from school five days for one fight, according to court testimony.

``The minor is used to getting away with things and his aggression was not dealt with properly,'' Decker said.

The judge cited the circumstances and gravity of the offense in ruling that Woods is unfit to be tried in juvenile court. Woods is 18, but was 17 when O'Leary was attacked May 20 outside a Palmdale home.

``Court finds the minor will not be amenable to treatment and programs of juvenile court,'' Rochman said. ``He is not a fit and proper subject to be dealt with in a juvenile court of law.''

O'Leary's mother, Kathleen Harris, wept as Rochman ruled that Woods would be tried as an adult.

Two of Woods' football teammates, Richard Newton and Marcus Raines, had already been ordered tried as adults. All three are in custody; Woods had been released in July, but was put back behind bars last month after the judge ruled he violated the conditions of his house arrest.

A defense psychologist testified Friday that Woods should remain in juvenile court, saying she did not believe he struck or kicked O'Leary.

Psychologist Adrienne Davis said she put the most credence in the statements by the witnesses closest to O'Leary: girlfriend Stacy Holzer, who said she saw Marcus Raines kick him, and a partygoer who told investigators he restrained Woods from attacking O'Leary.

Davis said the witness who told investigators that Woods kicked O'Leary three times seemed unsure about what happened in the attack.

``The people who were the closest to Mr. O'Leary were witnesses who could see the most. They said Mr. Woods had the least involvement in terms of the physical attack on Mr. O'Leary,'' Davis said. ``The witness holding Mr. Woods did not see Mr. Woods hit or kick Mr. O'Leary.''

No evidence shows that the attack on O'Leary was planned, she said. Woods went to a back yard and told his two friends he exchanged words with O'Leary. Newton and Raines said that Woods told them O'Leary wanted to fight him, and they went out to the front yard to help their friend, Davis said.

``Mr. Woods did not taunt, pressure, encourage, instruct, demand his friends to sock or kick Mr. O'Leary,'' Davis said. ``That was their decision to do that.''

But Decker said the witnesses on whose accounts Davis is basing her belief that Woods never struck O'Leary were not watching him throughout the attack.

At one point in the attack, Holzer was bent down over her boyfriend and might not have seen all of the assailants, Decker said. And the witness who held back Woods told detectives he didn't restrain him the entire time, Decker said.