Alleged 311 Boyz member to face more charges

Thursday, April 29, 2004 | 10:48 a.m.

A Clark County grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday charging alleged 311 Boyz gang member Jeff Hart with the July 3, 2003, beatings of two teens, one of whom was knocked out and suffered a severe concussion.

Hart, 18, is one of the nine alleged 311 Boyz set to stand trial in May on charges of attempted murder and 11 other felony counts in an attack last summer that left 17-year-old Stephen Tanner Hansen with a crushed face.

Wednesday's indictment charges Hart with two counts of battery with substantial bodily harm with the intent to promote a criminal gang. The charges stem from a videotaped fight at a July house party in a Northwest Las Vegas home.

The fight was one of several taped fights repeatedly broadcast in the national media last summer after news broke of the 311 Boyz, an alleged gang made up of affluent white teens.

Prosecutors allege Hart and 15 to 20 other "unidentified co-conspirators" picked a fight with David Olauwaya, then 18, and together hit, punched and kicked him until they rendered him unconscious. When Scott Lehto, who was then 17, tried to help Olauwaya, Hart and the other teens allegedly then began to hit, punch and kick Lehto.

Olauwaya suffered a severe concussion and Lehto suffered a broken arm in the fight, Deputy District Attorney Linda Lewis said.

The indictment alleges Hart yelled "311, n------," and "You don't (expletive) with 311" as he kicked the victims.

Hart's attorney, Sean Sullivan, said he was surprised by the indictment and could not immediately comment except to say, "We're in extensive negotiations."

No other charges have been brought against the co-conspirators, Lewis said.

"We don't have enough information to go forward against anyone else," Lewis explained. "We believe Jeff Hart was solely responsible for the actual injuries.

"We have specific information from both the victims that they were specifically beaten and kicked by Jeff Hart."

Lewis said she was unsure if the fight was racially motivated, as has been previously suggested by other prosecutors. Lewis said Olauwaya, who is black, testified before the grand jury that a fellow black teen had bumped into him to start the fight as several other teens watched.

It wasn't until Olauwaya hit back that the other teens joined in the fight, Lewis said. They also attacked Lehto, who is white.

Hart was 17 at the time of the alleged attack and was certified to stand trial on the charges as an adult back in November.

Lewis did not ask for Hart to be arrested on the charges when she unsealed the indictment Wednesday, noting his good behavior on house arrest in the Hansen case.

Hart will be arraigned on the battery charges May 11 before District Judge Michelle Leavitt.

Hart's attorney, Sean Sullivan, said he was surprised by the indictment and could not immediately comment.