Jason Kotowski got the scoop: Demitris King is guilty. Here's the story he filed from the courtroom...

The fifth, and final, juvenile involved in the beating death of an 81-year-old man over the summer was found guilty on Tuesday afternoon.

Judge Jon Stuebbe said there was more than enough evidence to prove that King participated in the attack on Perez. King sat silently while his mother, Lillie Randle, hung her head and cried.

Sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 4.
The judge gave his decision about 2:15 p.m.
Prosecutor Craig Smith gave his closing argument only about a half hour before.
"These five boys saw Ezequiel Perez, age 81, all 5 foot 2 and 120 pounds of him, they decided, for whatever reason, to hurt him," Smith said near the beginning of his closing statement.

According to what Johnson told officers, it was King's idea to come back, Smith said.
Smith hammered home that  it was obvious that Perez was an elderly man who made easy prey for the boys. He also asked that the robbery charge be found true because the boys took the aluminum cans Perez had been collecting that morning.

He said that when the boys decided to come back part of the reason was that they wanted to take his property. He was not dead at that time, he was gasping and in pain.

"Instead of showing some humanity, they decided to act out of greed and took what they could," Smith said.
Defense attorney Michael Lukehart began his closing statement by referencing the case of a New York city jogger who was killed and police rounded up a group of black men who were nearby. Lukehart said the young men were kept awake and repeatedly questioned and they eventually confessed.

It turned out, however, that another man had committed the murder and it was proven through DNA evidence that the young men initially arrested did not commit the crime. They confessed because they were coerced.

Lukehart said the witnesses in the Perez case gave their statements in what he called "interesting conditions."
Lukehart called the interview of Demitris King an interrogation. The interview, which was played in court on Monday, featured detectives interrupting KIng and at times yelling at him.

"The officers were clearly looking for evidence for admissions of guilt, they weren't interested in the kids' stories," Lukehart said.

He pointed out that the boys' statements were inconsistent with the physical facts. For example, he said, to believe Johnson's version oft King repeatedly hitting Perez, there should be blows to the back of the head and the autopsy showed there were none. Also, there was no blood on King's shirt.

Lukehart said there was no testimony as to exactly what injuries caused Perez's death and when they were inflicted. He said there are a lot of assumptions for which there is no foundation of proof.

"We really don't know exactly how or why Mr. Perez died or which blows caused it," he said.
In response, Smith said Lukehart fails to go into the details of Nathaniel  Johnson's statements which coincided exactly with what was found at the scene of the crime and with the testimony of a previous witness. He said he also overlooks the words of his client, who admitted to detectives that he was in the alley.

"All of the combined evidence shows this was a group effort and that Demitris played a major role and directed others what to do," Smith said.