311 Boyz tape shows attack on black teens

Erica D. Johnson

Thursday, Nov. 20, 2003 | 11:13 a.m.

Police have alleged for months that there was a racist element to the 311 Boyz gang's violence, and on Wednesday details emerged in court for the first time about an alleged attack on two black teens by the gang.

The details of the July 3 beating that left one victim with a broken arm and the other with a concussion came out during a hearing to certify Jeff Hart, one of the alleged 311 Boyz, to stand trial as an adult.

The attack was just one of the brawls captured on a videotape that has put the gang in the spotlight of national media.

Police say the images caught on tape were indicative of a violent string of assaults the 311 Boyz carried out in northwest Las Vegas throughout the summer.

Authorities allege the gang is a hate group. Police say the gang's symbol is the iron cross, a symbol linked to Nazi Germany, and that the gang's name was derived because K is the 11th letter of the alphabet.

Defense attorneys deny those claims, and during Wednesday's hearing prosecutors did not specifically allege that the attack was racially motivated.

Prosecutor Jonathan VanBoskerck stuck to more general descriptions of the gang's motives.

"This is a group whose entire existence is to engage in random terror and violence," he said.

VanBoskerck said the fight for which Hart was charged occurred when two black teens went to a house party that was attended by about 20 to 25 people.

He said the two teens had gone outside to smoke when another teen they'd never met before came up to them and rammed his shoulder into one of them.

When the black teen confronted him, the teen "repeatedly challenged (the victim) to a fight," VanBoskerck said.

He said the teen wanted to fight at a nearby park or school but the black teen refused. VanBoskerck said the teen who was trying to provoke the fight eventually left and the two black teens went back into the house.

When one of black teens came outside about five minutes later, however, he saw the same teen at the end of the street with at least three carloads full of other teenagers, VanBoskerck said.

The carloads of kids allegedly began driving toward the black teen, shouting racial epithets.

"They're shouting, '(Expletive) up the n-----, get the n-----,' " VanBoskerck said.

VanBoskerck said the teen who had shoved the black teen pulled his shirt off and charged him. The black teen then threw a handful of landscaping turf at him, he said.

That action set the already angry mob into action, VanBoskerck said.

"He pushes (the victim) and he is repeatedly kicked and stomped in the head," VanBoskerck said. "(The victim) is quickly defeated. He curls up in the fetal position."

When the other black teen tried to help, "he gets the same treatment" and the mob attacked him as well, VanBoskerck said.

VanBoskerck said that during the fight, several teens yelled: "You don't (expletive) with the 311. Get the n-----, kick his ass."

VanBoskerck said a Metro detective and another alleged member of the 311 Boyz gang, 16-year-old Brandon Gallion, identified Hart as one of the teens involved in the brawl. The detective wrote in a report that Hart was easily identifiable by his hair, clothes and shoes.

While the videotape only shows Hart from the back, VanBoskerck said, the detective wrote that Hart's shoes could be seen "kicking the victim over and over and over."

But Sullivan argued that the shadowy videotape was not enough to warrant charges in the adult system. He accused prosecutors of overzealously prosecuting the case.

"He's not on the tape," Sullivan said.

He said there was no evidence that Hart was a member of the 311 Boyz and no evidence that he participated in the fight.

"Mere presence isn't enough to convict you of a crime," he said. "I don't see a full body shot of my client linking him to the crime."

Sullivan said other images of the alleged gang caught on tape show the teens hanging out with black peers who are believed to have also been members of the group.

Family Court Judge Cynthia Dianne Steel ruled Hart, 18, should be tried as an adult on two charges of battery with a deadly weapon because of the nature and seriousness of the charges.

Hart was 17 at the time of the alleged crimes.

"Two young members of our community were brutalized," she said. "The offense involves violence, aggression, pre-meditation and willfulness."

Steel's ruling means that if Hart is convicted of the charges, he will be eligible for prison instead of a juvenile rehabilitation program.

Hart's attorney, Sean Sullivan, said the case should remain in the juvenile system.

Hart will be arraigned for the charges in this case on Dec. 5 in Las Vegas Justice Court.

He and nine other teens were already facing 13 felony counts in connection with an attack in Summerlin that injured Stephen Tanner Hansen, also 17.

They are charged with throwing a rock through the window of a truck in which Hansen was riding. The rock crushed one side of Hansen's face.

Like Hart, Gallion faces charges in the Hansen case and in the case involving the black teens. Gallion's certification hearing for the latter case is set for Dec. 10 in Juvenile Court.