Threat to Witness Told at Athlete’s Trial : Target of Reported Call Testified About Fight Involving Players

The misdemeanor battery trial of a former star athlete at San Dieguito High School centered Tuesday on information concerning witness intimidation and threats and fights among affluent suburban youth.

Without the jury present, Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Brian Michaels told Vista Municipal Court Judge Michael Harris that a prosecution witness was the target of a phone call meant to scare him out of testifying.

Michaels said that the produce manager of Vons in La Costa, where witness Robert Valois works, told district attorney’s investigators Monday night about receiving a call at the store over the weekend.

Michaels said that David Schillig reported receiving a call from an unidentified male caller who told him to warn Valois: “Your ass is grass if you testify. You’re dead.”

Valois, unaware of the call, testified Monday that an incident in the Vons parking lot near midnight April 25 was “more of a beating than a fair fight” and that he had feared that Craig Beveridge, 20, the victim, might be killed.

Valois’ testimony came in the trial of Erik Heipt, 19, who is charged with joining five of his friends and fellow San Dieguito athletes in kicking and hitting Beveridge after he was dazed and helpless on the ground.

Testimony Blocked

The district attorney’s office has a policy of reporting any alleged witness intimidation to the judge in the case involved.

Also Tuesday, defense attorney Tom Warwick sought unsuccessfully to present a witness who said that Beveridge had a reputation as a bully.

Robert Hall, 22, who attended San Dieguito High with Beveridge, said Beveridge, the son of an airline pilot, is “definitely the bully type.”

“He has a violent temper,” Hall said. “He’s a scary figure.”

Hall said he once saw Beveridge pick a fight outside his La Costa home and on another occasion saw him threaten someone at an Encinitas athletic club by waving a nunchaku, a martial-arts weapon consisting of two sticks connected by a chain. The incidents occurred four to five years ago, Hall said.

The defense has sought to portray Beveridge as the aggressor in the April 25 incident.

Judge Harris said the alleged incidents mentioned by Hall happened too long ago to provide insight into Beveridge’s character. He ruled that Hall could not testify before the jury.

Beveridge, talking later to reporters, denied the events described by Hall and said he has never used the martial-arts weapon described by Hall.

Heipt, testifying in his own defense, said Beveridge jumped out of his sports car and inexplicably rushed toward the six youths emerging from Heipt’s car. He said any blows struck were in an attempt to pull Beveridge away from his friend, Jeff Penacho.

Heipt testified that he tried to help Penacho because he still felt bad about not helping Penacho avoid being stabbed when a concert at Vista High School last February erupted into a rumble.

‘Never Bragged’

“I never bragged to anyone,” said Heipt when asked by Michaels whether he later boasted of beating up Beveridge. “I was not proud of what happened that evening. It was not my intention at all (to get into a fight).”

The prosecution’s last witness, Geoff House, 17, a senior at San Dieguito, testified that he heard Jay Penacho, Jeff Penacho’s brother, boast about having helped beat up Beveridge. Jay Penacho had testified that he had not hit or kicked Beveridge and had not seen anyone else do so.

House said Jay Penacho made the comments during a field trip for an honors English class to see a play at the Spreckels Theatre in San Diego.

Jeff Penacho is facing misdemeanor battery charges in the Beveridge case; he and Heipt, both June graduates of San Dieguito High, also face felony charges in a separate incident.

The two are among seven current or former athletes at San Dieguito High in Encinitas facing charges in three allegedly bloody and gang-like attacks in North County.

In a related court hearing, Superior Court Judge Norbert Ehrenfreund, sitting in Juvenile Court, ruled that a 17-year-old star linebacker accused in all three incidents can play football for San Dieguito while standing trial.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Davidson asked that Ehrenfreund require school officials to submit a letter requesting that the student be allowed to play. But Ehrenfreund indicated that he presumed that coach Ed Burke, in supporting the student’s bid, was speaking for school officials.

Later, William Berrier, superintendent of the San Dieguito Union High School District, said in an interview that Burke is not necessarily representing school officials. He said school officials plan to take no position until the court cases are completed.

“We will let the American justice system work,” Berrier said. “Mr. Burke is not representing the school. He is there on his own. Since the matters which are in court took place off campus, we plan to take no action until the designation of guilt or innocent is made.”

Asked what officials would do if required to take a stance before the trial is complete, Berrier said, “I’ll cross that bridge when and if we come to it.”