VAN NUYS : Man Convicted of Killing Youth Who Smashed BMW

Amid heated debate over vigilante justice, self-defense and the shooting death last week of a teen-age tagger, a Superior Court jury on Thursday convicted a Chatsworth man of second-degree murder for killing a 16-year-old.

Scott Howard Breverman, 24, had claimed he fired in self-defense Dec. 19, 1993, when the teen-agers retaliated for a fight the previous night by smashing his BMW, parked 10 feet from his front door, with bats and clubs.

“It doesn’t seem fair,” said Breverman’s mother, Janet, noting that William Masters II, who killed a tagger last week while walking late at night, is free while her son is in jail.

In that case, prosecutors declined to file charges, saying Masters reasonably feared he was in great danger when he opened fire on two taggers who he said threatened him with a screwdriver and tried to rob him. Masters’ action drew widespread public praise and some rebuke.

“My client is facing 17 years to life in prison while Bill Masters is out there walking the streets,” defense attorney Donald J. Calabria said. “This vigilante can kill a tagger and not be prosecuted, while (Breverman) can be on his own property, retreat twice from a gang of hoodlums and be tried for murder. To be attacked in your own home and face 20 years in prison? It isn’t fair.”