Wednesday January 24, 2001
KGTV San Diego News
Officials Search For Witnesses
Authorities are searching for anyone who may have witnessed a savage late-night beating that caused the victim to lose his nose.
Four young men are in jail and facing the possibility of long state-prison terms in connection with the Dec. 30 assault on Orange County restaurant worker Steven Pappas as he walked toward a public restroom at the U.S.-Mexico border last month.
"There were a lot of people in the parking lot," San Diego police Detective Christopher Chaney said. "And we're hoping that someone who saw this will come forward."
On Tuesday, three East County residents and a South Bay college student pleaded not guilty to mayhem, assault and hate crime charges in the case.
Ordered held on $500,000 bail each pending trial were Jason E. Phillips, a theater arts major at Southwestern College in Chula Vista; Santee residents Benjamin Pospisil, 21, and Jeremiah Pospisil, 24; and 19-year-old Kristopher Gill of Lakeside.
At the defendants' arraignment, Deputy District Attorney Hector Jimenez said that they jumped the victim because of his race.
Pappas, 24, is half-Latino and half-Italian.
Phillips apparently was angry about money that he lost in Mexico, and two of his companions yelled derogatory remarks at Pappas, Jimenez said.
"They said, 'Go back to Mexico where you belong,"' the prosecutor told the judge.
The belligerent men demanded Pappas' wallet, then "viciously and brutally" attacked him, Jimenez said.
"Mr. Pappas lost his nose," he told the judge. "He will never be able to smell again. He will always be disfigured."
The defendants yelled, "Lakeside! This is for white power!" as they pummeled the victim, according to prosecutors.
Phillips allegedly beat Pappas with a heavy traffic cone while his cohorts kicked him.
The defendants turned themselves in last weekend when they learned that authorities were looking for them.
Phillips could spend up to 33 years in prison if convicted. Each of the other defendants faces at least 19 years in a state penitentiary.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/kgtv/20010124/lo/294603_1.html
