And they are still pointing fingers. 
Please! Peer pressure is intense, however the ultimate decision, the final act, is that of each individual and they should and have been held accountable.
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May 25, 2006
Killer's family says teen also a victim
By JAY STAPLETON
Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- He rolled his own cigarettes and carried few belongings as he followed vague paths for comfort in the brush off Nova Road. He liked to drink beer and work, especially with wood. His bicycle was blue.
N-J/Ji-Eun Lee
Liane Messner, 23, sister of Warren Messner, writes a letter at her Holly Hill home to her brother, who is being held at a state corrections reception center in Orlando. Warren Messner and three other teens were convicted of various charges in the beating death a year ago of Michael Roberts, a local homeless man.
What's next
Phi Huynh, 16, the fifth member of the group charged in the beating death of Michael Roberts, is awaiting trial. Here's a breakdown:
CHARGE: Felony aggravated battery
HEARING: Today
TRIAL DATE: June 12
TESTIMONY: During sentencing of the others, Huynh said he left the woods where Roberts was beaten after the first two of three attacks.
PRISON TIME: If convicted, Huynh faces up to 15 years.
— Jay Stapleton
Michael Roberts is gone. A year ago today the slightly built 53-year-old loner was beaten to death by four teens over a two-hour period.
His death broke hearts in many families. And as the year has passed, the pain hasn't faded.
"We have come to grips with it," Roberts' sister, Barbara Burns said. "But there won't be any closure because we couldn't say goodbye to him. We couldn't hold him and tell him that we loved him."
The mother of one of the young men who was sent away to prison for what she thinks is far too long for his age, would like to hold her son, too. Warren Messner, now 16, got 22 years after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Like the others, he'll be middle-aged when he's free to join to his family again.
"He's my son," Lori Messner said, her eyes red with tears. "I love him."
Among the details of the killing that shocked the small working-class community in which he'd grown up, Roberts had begged for the beatings to stop, pleading "Why don't you leave me alone?"
A burly 15-year-old named Christopher Scamahorn taunted Roberts, asking: "Why don't you guys get a job?"
After two beatings, the violence grew only more severe when the group went back to hit Roberts more a third time. The gray-bearded 115-pound gnomish man who'd been hit by a car as a small boy and had a steel plate in his head, was clubbed with logs, punched in the face and stomped on. By the time it was over, his skull was fractured three times.
One year later, the path where Roberts sought refuge under the swaying palm and oak trees is still there. Locals say that teenagers and homeless men still follow the path to get away. Sometime in the future, those paths will again likely collide.
"I think this could happen again," said Burns, 66, of Dunnellon. "If this was a spur of the moment thing, what's going to happen when they decide let's go hunting to find homeless people."
Prosecutors promised from the beginning to take the crime seriously. "Some people are just plain evil, there are others that do evil things," State Attorney John Tanner said of the killing. "Both kinds are dangerous. It's my job to deal with them."
But the families of the boys say they are also victims. While some homeless advocates and other observers have blamed the parents for the actions of their children in the Roberts' killing, the convicted four are gone from their loved ones for decades.
Jeffery Spurgeon, 19, Christopher Scamahorn, 15, Justin Stearns, 18, and Messner all are now being held at a state corrections reception center in Orlando until they are sent to a state prison. Lori Messner said the family has not been able to visit their son -- or even talk to him on the phone -- since he is being held in solitary confinement because of his age.
The teen's father, whose name is also Warren, said he thought the sentence was too much. "One hundred and ten years out of these four young kids," he said. "That's a lot of time."
There were tears from Messner when he was sentenced, and notes of apology by him and the others, but there was never enough truth or accountability expressed to satisfy the Roberts family.
"I pray to God these boys will tell the truth so they can get closure," Burns said. "As soon as they can admit what they did and be honest, honest with themselves, then they can start to recover and repair their own self esteem."
Messner was only present during the final attack, and never took the stand to tell his side of the story. The others took some blame but during sentencing pointed fingers at others.
The sentences were surprising.
"I was shocked, I didn't expect that much time," Burns said. "We were told it would be six to 15 years."
Circuit Judge Joseph Will acknowledged the lies told by the young men and their failure to take responsibility. He told them that had they been honest, the punishment may not have been so severe.
Roberts was sleeping on the ground when they found him. The twisting path where Roberts made his last gasps for life was littered but quiet last week.
There are signs others have visited the spot. Not 30 feet from the place where he made his last appeals for mercy, a gold and blue tent was tucked under the palmettos. Beer cans nearby indicate a solitary life in the woods, along with old cigarette packs and tattered pornographic magazines.
On a recent early evening not unlike Roberts' last, a lizard scuttled across the spot where his body was found, as a light breeze rustled the palm fronds.
Not far away, the Messners sat on a bench in their front yard, thinking about their son, like they do most nights. Their son's room has become like a shrine no one goes in, his mother said. They have more family dinners together with Warren's sister now, and she lights a candle and prays for her son every night.
She has regrets, of not being more active in his life, and worries. "If Chris (Scamahorn) hadn't called him," she said. "I don't think Warren would have been involved."
-- Staff Writer Seth Robbins contributed to this report.
jay.stapleton@news-jrnl.com
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Tonya
