Teens arraigned after gang-rape outside school dance

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RICHMOND, Calif. — Wearing bulletproof vests, three underage
boys accused in the gang-rape of a Richmond High School girl stood before a
Contra Costa Superior Court judge Thursday to hear charges that could land them
behind bars for life.

The court arraigned all three — San Pablo, Calif., residents
Ari Abdallah Morales, 16, and Cody Ray Smith, 15; and Pinole, Calif., resident
Marcelles James Peter, 17 — as adults in connection with Saturday’s assault
outside the homecoming dance that left the 15-year-old girl hospitalized
through Wednesday night.

“All of the factors point to no other decision than
that they be tried as adults,” said Dara Cashman, head of the Contra Costa
District Attorney’s Office Family Violence Prevention Unit. “There’s
something about the coldness of it … the attitude of both the people
involved, and the people who saw or knew about it. It’s just very cold.”

The District Attorney’s Office has been flooded with
“expressions of outrage from all over the country,” Cashman said.
While no particular threat has been made, the “community’s heightened
emotions” prompted the county Probation Department, which runs juvenile
hall, to dress the teens in bulletproof vests, said Chief Deputy Probation
Officer Paula Hernandez.

A fourth defendant, 19-year-old Manuel Ortega of Richmond,
was arraigned separately Thursday on charges of robbery, assault causing great
bodily injury, rape in concert and an enhancement that makes him eligible for
life in prison. The minors, each charged with rape with a foreign object in
concert, also could be eligible for life sentences if convicted; Morales, who
sported a black eye in court, also is charged with robbery.

Judge Peter A. Berger held all without bail. Only the
baby-faced Smith entered a plea at the hearing: not guilty. All four are
scheduled to return to court next week.

Police say they and at least a few others participated in a
two-hour assault on the semiconscious girl after she collapsed while drinking
with a crowd of young people in a secluded courtyard on campus, as the dance
continued in the gym.

She left the dance alone about 9:30 p.m. to catch some fresh
air and call her father for a ride home, Richmond police Detective Ken Greco
said. But before she called, a classmate caught her eye. He escorted her to the
hangout spot, on the north edge of campus, where she drank a large amount of
brandy quickly.

After she collapsed, several people beat her, robbed her of
her belongings, stripped her naked and repeatedly sexually assaulted her. The
attack continued until about midnight, when word reached a group of students
and former students watching a movie at a house a few blocks away.

They phoned 911, and officers arrived to break up the
attack. They arrested Ortega, who was out of custody on a pending misdemeanor
weapons and vandalism case, running from the crime scene. Detectives later
identified and arrested the other suspects. Peter turned himself in after
police raided the home he shares with his grandmother, family members said.

Cashman said her office will consider charging a fifth
suspect, 21-year-old Salvador Rodriguez, arrested Tuesday night. Police
continue to search for additional suspects, Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan
said.

A crowd turned out at the courthouse on 37th Street on
Thursday morning to watch the arraignment. Several young women in the audience
wore lavender ribbons, they said to represent their support for the victim.

Others came to support their loved ones among the accused.

“If they give him a life sentence, I guarantee the city
of Richmond will be sued. I will sue the pants off them,” said Peter’s aunt,
Monica Peter. “Trust me when I say he was just walking by.”

The younger Peter, a senior at North Campus High School on
the Richmond High campus, is the only black suspect. His aunt said she believes
his ethnicity played a role in his arrest.

“He’s a very good kid, never had any problems,”
Peter said. “He said he heard something, but he just kept moving.”

Attorney Ernie Castillo, retained by Morales’ parents,
described his client as a “young kid with no prior criminal
convictions.”

“This is a horrible tragedy, and it is hard to
understand how something like this could happen at an American high
school,” Castillo said. “How limited his involvement was, if he had
any involvement, I don’t know.”

Cashman said the investigation continued, with Richmond
police devoting a task force of detectives to the case.

“I am sure we will have forensic evidence,” she
said. “But that has not been completed yet.”

Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.