Published January 13, 2015
A 20-year-old man police said decided to do some "bum bashing" after watching a "Bumfights" video was convicted Wednesday of beating two homeless men with a baseball bat.
Jurors convicted Justin Edward Brumfield of assault with a deadly weapon and assault likely to commit great bodily injury. They deadlocked 9-3 in favor of acquittal on an attempted murder charge, and prosecutors said they will decide by next month whether to seek a retrial on that count.
Brumfield could be sentenced to as much as 11 years in prison on the assault charges.
Authorities said he and William Alexander Orantes attacked Ernest Adams and Gerald McHenry in the early morning hours of Aug. 16. Adams, who was struck in the head, suffered brain damage and was blinded in one eye.
Orantes, 20, is scheduled to go on trial Aug. 9.
Police said the pair told them they attacked the men after watching "Bumfights," the video that shows homeless people fighting one another and engaging in dangerous stunts.
Brumfield testified that he beat the men but said the attacks were not premeditated.
His attorney, Maynard Davis, told jurors his client had suffered a series of breakdowns after learning his biological mother was a homeless crack-cocaine addict.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/la-man-convicted-of-bum-bashing-two-homeless-men