2 From Skinhead Gang Sentenced in Fullerton Racial Beating : Hate: Youths from Garden Grove and Stanton are given nine months in Juvenile Hall.

ORANGE —  Two county teen-agers, identified as members of a racist skinhead gang, were sentenced Thursday to nine months in Juvenile Hall for their part in an attack on a Chinese-American youth and his two white friends, prosecutors said.

The defendants--one from Garden Grove, the other from Stanton and both 17--pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon in the July 7 beating at Gilman Partin Park in Fullerton.

The weapon charge stemmed from the defendants’ use of their fists and boots in the attack, prosecutors said. They were not identified because they are juveniles.

“There were definite racial overtones in this case,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary S. Paer said.

He added that he has received more than 350 letters from the Chinese-American community supporting vigorous prosecution of the youths.

“It’s been incredible,” Paer said. “I’ve gotten letters from San Francisco down, from cultural associations, to bankers and students.”

Four other gang members, who either pleaded guilty or were convicted of similar charges, await sentencing. A fifth was sentenced to nine months in Juvenile Hall after pleading guilty earlier this week.

The two defendants sentenced Thursday were also instructed not to associate with other gang members and ordered to make restitution.

According to Paer, the three victims were surrounded by more than a dozen skinheads who asked them questions about their racial views.

“They asked them if they like Nazis and skinheads and other questions about their racial beliefs,” Paer said. “Apparently, they didn’t like their answers.”

One skinhead made a Nazi salute and hit one of the white victims. “That started the whole thing going,” Paer said. “They pounced, hit and kicked the victims.”

The attackers, some of whom had apparently harassed a black family in Placentia earlier in the day, were dressed in black leather jackets and boots and said they were affiliated with the White Aryan Resistance, a white-supremacist group.

Some of the attackers had swastika tattoos. Others identified themselves as belonging to a skinhead gang known as the Confederate Federation of America.

The 17-year-old Chinese-American, an honors graduate from Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton who now attends UC Berkeley, was beaten unconscious. His two companions had minor bruises and cuts.