Thread: Nearly 10-year sentence for teen in MAX stop beating

Notice how long it takes the author to say he's an illegal...

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews ... n_bea.html

Posted by Aimee Green, The Oregonian June 12, 2008 11:24AM

Categories: Editors' Picks, Portland, Top Stories

A 15-year-old boy who bludgeoned a 71-year-old man bloody and unconscious at a Gresham MAX stop last year was sentenced to 9½ years in prison this morning.

Abel Antonio Chavez-Garcia told Judge Eric Bergstrom that he regretted the Nov. 3 attack.

"Nothing I can do about it anymore," said Chavez-Garcia, now 16, baby-faced and bearded. "I regret what I did."

Laurie Lee Chilcote, the man the teen beat, didn't appear in Multnomah County Circuit Court, but prosecutor Don Rees read a letter aloud. In it, Chilcote spoke of his will to recover.

"I do want this immature, uneducated young person to know I am not intimidated by his criminal behavior," the letter stated. "I will recover eventually, but will he?"

Chilcote wrote that he hoped Chavez-Garcia would use his time in youth prison to grow into a responsible adult. "If not, his life will only get worse," wrote Chilcote, now 72. "What a waste."

Chavez-Garcia, who shook his leg and fidgeted with his fingers through parts of the hearing, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in the November beating. He also pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery for an Oct. 13 incident in which authorities say he assaulted another teen and stole his bandana.

In the November attack, Gresham police said Chilcote was followed by three teens when he left the MAX train at the Gresham Central Transit Center. Chavez-Garcia taunted him by calling him an old man. With the others watching, Chavez-Garcia beat him, even after he lay motionless on the ground. A detective found Chilcote unconscious at a crosswalk near the station, at Northeast Eighth Street and Kelly Avenue, bleeding from the head.

Nine days after the attack, Chilcote spoke of it from a wheelchair at OHSU. He suffered double vision, and one side of his face was paralyzed. He had trouble hearing, speaking and swallowing.

The attack generated public outrage, not only because of its violent nature, but because of concerns over safety on MAX trains. At the time, Gresham was the only city along the MAX line that didn't have surveillance cameras. TriMet has since installed some cameras.

In this case, the attack happened about 9:30 p.m. on a Saturday night and there were witnesses around. A fellow passenger dialed 9-1-1. Chavez-Garcia was spotted and arrested a few blocks away.

Chavez-Garcia's attorney, Gary Bertoni, said his client had a troubled upbringing.

"People ask 'Why did this happen?' .¤.¤. Was he just acting big in front of his friends?'" Bertoni said.

Bertoni said showing off may have had something to do with it, but he also thinks alcohol and his client's borderline low IQ contributed.

Chavez-Garcia started using marijuana and methamphetamines when he was 14 or 15. He stopped after seeing his best friend fatally shoot himself while high on meth.

"To cover the pain, he started drinking. He started knocking back 40s daily," Bertoni said, referring to the 40-ounce beers the teen drank.

Chavez-Garcia will likely serve his time at the MacLaren Correctional Youth Facility in Woodburn. Although it's unknown how he entered the country, he is not a citizen and he will likely be deported once he completes his sentence.

-- Aimee Green; aimeegreen@news.oregonian.com

"Bertoni said showing off may have had something to do with it, but he also thinks alcohol and his client's borderline low IQ contributed. "

borderline IQ. So with this kind of thinking Down Syndrome children will end up beating old people and stealing and drinking. Give me a break.

As an aside to the story, another person was beaten earlier in the week on what I consider to be amongst the most dangerous mass transit systems in the world. Portland has become a free for all for criminal activity.

http://www.nwcn.com/topstories/stories/ ... fb5df.html

Additionally, the first story happened in Gresham, Portland's version of a third world city. If you were abducted and blindfolded than dropped in Gresham, you'd wake up thinking you had been dropped off in a slum in Tijuana. The open borders attitude of this area has created yet another haven for illegal alien criminals.

Hardworking, blue-collar Americans have been driven out of Gresham in droves and replaced by the hordes of criminals that we are struggling to drive out. It's actually sad.

I have friends who are attorneys. I don't know how a trial attorney can get out of bed or look in the mirror. I agree with you, you don't see devlopmentally disabled people typically beating elderly men within an inch of their lives. The kid was just scum, why not just leave it at that Mr. Shyster Attorney?