
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 11, 1995                   TAG: 9501110083
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TEENS SENT TO CENTER FOR ATTACK OUTSIDE LIBRARY

Two teen-age boys convicted in the ``random and wanton'' assault on a high school senior outside the Roanoke City Library were sentenced Tuesday to indeterminate terms in a state detention center for juveniles.

A third youth, who had a lesser involvement in the attack, received a suspended sentence and was placed on probation, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Gerald Teaster.

All three boys had been convicted earlier in Roanoke Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court of assaulting a 17-year-old Patrick Henry High School student Oct.11 as he left the Jefferson Street library after researching Mahatma Gandhi and nonviolence for a school project.

As the victim's 11-year-old sister stood nearby, the three assailants beat him with their fists, leaving him with a concussion and facial bruises.

In asking Judge John Ferguson to incarcerate the juveniles, Teaster stressed that the attack was completely unprovoked. ``I think the judge saw it was random and wanton violence,'' the prosecutor said.

The three youths - two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old - are not being identified because of their ages. A fourth youth, who observed the beating but did not strike the victim, was not charged.

by CNB