4 face adult trials in concourse attack

Was it a sophomoric stunt or murder plotted by more mature minds?

A Common Pleas judge heard yesterday from attorneys defending the five teens accused of beating Starbucks manager Sean Patrick Conroy in a Center City subway concourse last March, triggering a fatal asthma attack.

The lawyers argued over the course of five hours that the incident was "kids being kids" and that they had never intended nor forseen such a tragic outcome.

But Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner wasn't swayed.

"This is a monstrous case with a monstrous result," Lerner said, before denying the attorneys' requests that Arthur Alston, Rasheem Bell, Ameer Best and Nashir Fisher be tried as juveniles instead of adults. Bell, Best and Alston are 17; Fisher is 16.

The teens face third-degree murder and conspiracy charges.

Lerner did agree to dismiss adult charges against Kinta Stanton. At 16, he's one of the youngest of the suspects and possibly the least involved, Lerner said. A psychologist who assessed four of the five teens at the defense's request also described Stanton as having the lowest risk for reoffending.

If convicted as a juvenile, Stanton would be under court supervision for at most four years, or until he turns 21. In adult court, the other teens could face decades behind bars if convicted.

Lerner credited Stanton - the only one caught as he tried to flee the beating scene - with cooperating with detectives and identifying his conspirators.

"Perhaps it's a matter of luck for him that he happened to be the one that got caught," Lerner said. "He was largely responsible for making sure that almost all of the other defendants were arrested."

A sixth teen who participated in the attack on Conroy has not been caught. Stanton knew him only as "Tim," and the other suspects have not identified him, according to court testimony.

Lerner acknowledged that the teens mostly had clean criminal and school records, which normally might warrant more leniency.

But the circumstances of Conroy's death demand redress in adult court, he said.

The boys skipped school at Simon Gratz High and went to the subway concourse beneath Market Street looking for someone to "drop," according to court testimony.

Conroy was attacked as he walked, listening to his iPod, in the subway concourse, on his way from management training in Fort Washington to the Starbucks where he worked in the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown at 12th and Market.

Alston admitted he threw the first punch, while the rest joined in, hitting him even after Conroy collapsed. A responding officer reported that the teens laughed as Conroy screamed. Pathologists later found Conroy had four broken ribs.

"Let's start off by seeing this case for what it is . . . It is not simply: 'Well, we were going to rough this guy up, but he had asthma so he died,' " Lerner said. "The only reason the assault stopped when it did is because the cops came."

Further, Lerner argued, the public paranoia and fear the attack on Conroy caused still roils.

"[It happened at] 2:30 in the afternoon in a public-transit concourse. Who of us, at least those of us who have grown up in the city, who has not been there? Who of us did not read about this and feel a shudder?" Lerner said.

After Lerner's ruling, Alston buried his face in his hands and cried, while Conroy's supporters - so numerous the proceeding had to be moved to a bigger courtroom - erupted in hugs and grins.

"We do feel that justice was served," his father Stephen Conroy said after the hearing. "It's not really a win-win situation. We're not celebrating. We'd only celebrate if we could get Sean back."

Stephen Conroy earlier had testified about how his son's slaying has devastated his family.

"You don't sleep. When you sleep, you dream mostly about him being attacked," he said. "Every holiday's going to have a hole in it."

He then turned to the five teens, who seemed surprised and sat riveted as he addressed them in a voice shaking with emotion.

"I don't think you guys know what you did to us that day. You have touched every single part of our life. You have left us where we can't even be around each other because it hurts too much," he said, prompting Sean Patrick's fiance to burst into sobs and defendant Fisher to cry as well. *