A California judge decided not to impose a prison sentence on two boys whose bullying and punching attack led to the death of a 13-year-old classmate in 2019.
They chose the victim for years. The attack was captured on video, which circulated widely on social media. And they admitted manslaughter in court after having their counts of voluntary manslaughter reduced.
But Riverside County Superior Court Judge Roger A. Luebs ordered each young man to do 150 hours of community service, according to FOX 11 in Los Angeles.
CALIFORNIA BOY, 13, CLAIMED BULLYING AT SCHOOL BEFORE THE SUCKER’S FATAL PUNCH, THE LAWYER SAYS
“No custody time has been determined and the judge ordered each young person to do 150 hours of community service and also to participate in various programs specifically geared to their rehabilitation needs,” a spokesman for the Riverside County Public Ministry confirmed Fox News.
He said he could not comment further because the case involved minors, but added that the juvenile justice system is focused on rehabilitation.
Diego Stolz, 13, was killed during a bullying incident on September 16, 2019 at Landmark Middle School. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The two suspects, whose identities were concealed because they were minors, allegedly intimidated Diego Stolz since the seventh grade at the Landmark Middle School in Moreno Valley.
The video of the incident showed a significantly larger boy facing Diego on the school grounds. The victim has his hands at his side when the first attacker punches him in the face. The second punches from behind, and Diego loses his balance, falls and hits his head on the concrete.
He never regained consciousness and was removed from the life support device nine days later, according to family lawyer Dave Ring.
The boy’s aunt had filed several complaints about bullying before the fatal attack, according to the FOX 11 report, and the family was informed that the boys would be suspended for a separate incident on the day of the attack.
But they were at school and it had deadly results.
Both the director, Scott Walker, and the deputy director, Kamilah O’Connor, were later fired, and the family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the district.
Judge Luebs was first elected to the bank in 2002 and ran without opposition in the three subsequent elections, the records show.
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Probation officers wanted the boys to serve time in a juvenile facility, according to FOX 11, but Luebs argued that they were basing the request on public outrage, not rehabilitation.
Luebs obtained his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Riverside in 1974 and graduated in law at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law in 1977, according to Trellis, a judicial transparency organization.