Relatives Plead for Teens Guilty in Slaying

Prosecutors called it a dog-and-pony show, but for the families of four Conejo Valley teenagers convicted of killing an Agoura Hills youth, it was a last-ditch effort to convince a judge that the young men don’t deserve to spend their lives in prison.

Whether their pleas had any effect on Malibu Municipal Judge Lawrence J. Mira on Tuesday remains to be seen; the hearing on defense attorneys’ final motions is expected to conclude this morning and be followed immediately by a sentencing hearing.

Of the four teenagers convicted of killing James Farris--the 16-year-old son of an LAPD officer--last May in a fight over a few bags of marijuana stashed in a backyard fort, three face sentences of life without parole because Farris was stabbed to death during the commission of a felony robbery, murder with a special circumstance.

The fourth, Micah Holland, of Thousand Oaks, was 15 at the time of the slaying and is therefore eligible for a lighter sentence of 25 years to life.

A fifth teenager, Chris Velardo, 18, of Oak Park, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter last fall and is awaiting sentencing.

In order to impose anything less than life sentences for the three older defendants--Micah’s brother Jason, 19, Brandon Hein, 19, of Oak Park, and Tony Miliotti, 19, of Westlake Village--Mira would have to edge out on a thin judicial limb, a step even defense attorneys doubt he will take.

But they tried to convince him that life sentences would be disproportionate to the crime committed, hanging their arguments on a rarely used precedent set by a 1983 case in which a 17-year-old shot a man nine times, killing him. In that case, known as the Dillon case, a judge reduced an expected maximum sentence on the grounds that the punishment was cruel and unusual given the crime and the youth and immaturity of the defendant.

At the Malibu Municipal Courthouse on Tuesday, parents, uncles and family friends offered glimpses into the lives of the four teens, despite frequent protests by the district attorney, who called their testimonials a “legally meaningless exercise.”

Brandon is “a good person,” said Gene Hein, describing the way his son would have dinner on the stove when he came home. “He’s a nonviolent person.” His son was a good student who strayed in the wrong direction when he began experimenting with alcohol, Hein said.

“I’ve seen my son described in one-dimensional, evil terms during this trial,” testified Brandon’s mother, Patricia Kraetcsch, her small features a mirror of her son’s. “He has a gentle spirit. He is probably my best friend.”

Miliotti was portrayed by two of his uncles as a submissive youth, with an even, easy-going nature. He loved to play with his young cousins, helping them with coloring books and games, they said.

“Tony is soft,” one uncle said of him. “He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Two psychologists spoke on behalf of the Holland brothers, one saying Micah suffers from such a severe case of Attention Deficit Disorder that he is “in the stratosphere of ADD cases” and the other describing Jason as being protective of his younger brother as the result of frequent abuse by their former stepfather.

Malibu psychologist Ann Thiel said that after interviewing Jason in prison, she concluded that he is emotionally immature but exhibits no sociopathic signs. The teen, who admitted during the trial that he alone killed Farris and wounded fort owner Michael McLoren, shows great remorse, Thiel said.

“Whenever I would bring up the tragic death of this young person, Jason would weep,” she said. “He would cry. Tears would come down his face.”

During cross-examination, sparks flew between Thiel and prosecutor Jeffrey Semow, who was admonished by Mira after asking the psychologist if she had just fallen “off a turnip truck.”

Jimmy Farris’ mother and father, Judie and Jim Farris, sat quietly in the front row during the testimony, Judie Farris occasionally shaking her head as she listened. After the day in court, a Farris family friend said he was unmoved by the stories of abuse that both boys supposedly suffered.

“My life hasn’t been a bed of roses or anything,” said Doug Hornbaker. “But I didn’t turn out to be a murderer.”