4th Paint-Ball Defendant Pleads Not Guilty

A Van Nuys youth pleaded not guilty Monday to a series of videotaped assaults with paint-ball guns and baseball bats on San Fernando Valley bicyclists and pedestrians.

Javier Perez, 17, was the last of the four teens to plead not guilty to multiple charges of assault with a deadly weapon for the three-day rampage, which the defendants videotaped.

The tape, which prosecutors have played in open court, show the youths cruising Valley streets in a car, picking off pedestrians, cyclists and homeless people with baseball bats and paint-ball guns--which fire pellets at up to 200 feet per second and are usually used in mock war games in which participants are protected with heavy clothing, goggles and masks.

Some of the victims were shot in the face and their cries are audible on the tape, as are the youths’ jokes and laughter. At least one defendant has admitted in interviews to videotaping the spree.

“It’s shocking and I think the public is shocked,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Cohen. “The public would like these guys to go away for the rest of their lives.”

Perez and Anthony Skoblar were 17 at the time of the attacks, but a juvenile court judge ruled them fit to stand trial as adults. Also charged are Ruffy Flores and Malcolm Boyd.

“My goal is to get them all together” for trial, said Cohen.

Attorneys for some of the youths have said they wish to plea bargain, calling their clients good students who are not in gangs. Flores was a senior at Chatsworth High School at the time of the attacks, and Perez and Skoblar attended Birmingham High School. Boyd had recently graduated from Birmingham and enrolled at Valley College.

Each of the four face a maximum of eight years in state prison if convicted.

Perez’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 8.