In front of his crying mother, a 15-year-old El Cajon boy, who previously pleaded guilty to attacks on men outside the San Diego LGBT Pride festival, received a sentence of up to 10 years at a state youth detention center.

During an Oct. 4 sentencing hearing at San Diego Juvenile Court, Superior Court Judge Theodore Weathers sentenced the 15-year-old to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Division of Juvenile Justice.

As part of a plea bargain, the teen previously pleaded guilty on Sept. 18 to three counts of assault with a deadly weapon on three different victims with hate crime allegations. He also admitted to an allegation that he caused great bodily injury to one of the six victims. The teen assisted in the attack of Oscar Foster, the most seriously injured victim, who was struck in the head and upper body 10 to 12 times. The other victims included Marlon Morales and Jason Bemis.

“The crimes that were committed on July 29 were both horrific and beyond comprehension,” Weathers said in court. “One wonders what a 15-year-old boy, who lives with his mother in a trailer in El Cajon, is doing in Hillcrest some 10 to 15 miles away when he has no transportation, with all adult males armed with baseball bats and knives…. He is a danger to the community, in my opinion.”

Paul Mullins, one of the victims, told Judge Weathers that the teen showed no remorse for his crime.

“It’s really hard for me to see a 15-year-old worth saving,” Mullins said. “I hope in his time with the state of California he figures it all out…. It really, really hurts me to say it because I know 15-year-olds who screwed up, but I’ve never seen a 15-year-old have no remorse.”

Six men were attacked in separate incidents, some with baseball bats and one with a knife, around 10:45 p.m. on July 29. The attacks took place during the course of several minutes behind the lawn bowling green in Redwood Circle in Balboa Park.

James Carroll, 24, Lyonn Tatum, 18, and Kenneth Lincoln, 24, pleaded guilty to felony charges during a preliminary hearing, which took place on Sept. 22.

Initially, the three men and the 15-year-old juvenile pleaded not guilty at arraignment hearings on Aug. 3.

Superior Court Judge Frederick Maguire sentenced Carroll to 11 years in prison, Tatum to eight years and Lincoln to 32 months during a sentencing hearing on Sept. 25.

Weathers cited a psychological evaluation of the teen, which said the teen was at “high risk for future aggressive and assaultive, acting-out behaviors,” and that he tended to “defer his decision-making to an individual or group who appears strong, in control and authoritative.”

The evaluation also stated that the teen had been under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the attacks.

Education, vocational training, counseling and substance-abuse treatment were also recommended in the psychological evaluation.

The teen’s lawyer, Robert Bourne, also cited the report during the sentencing hearing and said the 15-year-old was a follower who “went along with what was going on and joined right in.”

“I’m really, really sorry,” the teen said as he broke down in tears.

Bourne said the teen wanted to express to the court that the attacks he participated in were not his normal behavior.

“He never hurts people. He’s not trying to hide behind the methamphetamine, but it just changed his personality,” Bourne said. “He did things that he would never do. Those are his words and not mine.”

Judge Weathers said he would order that the teen receive counseling or sensitivity training related to GLBT people and other minority groups if it is available at the juvenile detention center.

Deputy District Attorney Oscar Garcia said the sentencing of this crime sends a strong message to the community.

“It was one of our goals in the prosecution of this case, that if criminals engage in this type of hateful activity, that the response from the entire community and law enforcement is going to be very swift and aggressive,” Garcia said outside the court room. “We will be very swift and aggressive and we will severely punish those who engage in this type of violent behavior.”