STUART — A Martin County grand jury on Wednesday returned first-degree murder and robbery indictments against two Stuart residents accused in the April 5 beating death of Keith A. Hall, who died three days after being attacked.

Charged are James Louis LaForteza, 29, and Kobi Anderson, 15, who authorities say beat Hall into unconsciousness to steal $40 he’d shown the man and teen in an attempt to buy drugs.

Witnesses at the scene helped Stuart police identify LaForteza, of the 1200 block of Palm Beach Road, and Anderson, of the 900 block of Southeast 13th Street.

Police described the two as associates.

Hall, released from the state Department of Corrections the day of the robbery, had approached the defendants in the convenience store parking lot, arrest reports show.

According to detectives and witness accounts, LaFortenza and Anderson began beating Hall after he produced his cash and both men continued to beat and kick Hall after he was face down on the ground. The two fled only after a woman approaching the store saw Hall on the ground and yelled for the pair to stop.

Hall had stopped breathing but was revived by medics called to the scene. He died three days later after undergoing brain surgery, according to detective reports.

Court papers show LaFortenza has a criminal record dating to 2002, which include a number of misdemeanor charges for possession of marijuana under 20 grams, driving without a license and violation of probation and assault.

Anderson at the time was free on bond awaiting trial for charges of attempted robbery and two counts of battery when Hall was attacked.

Both men were already being held at the Martin County Jail on second-degree murder charges. After Wednesday’s indictment was issued, a judge ordered the two held without bail.

Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers, while customarily not naming juveniles accused of crimes, does name some juveniles depending on the seriousness of the crime, their age, aggravating circumstances and other factors.

By Melissa E. Holsman, TCPalm.com

Tags: arrest, assault, author, bail, battery, beach, beat, beating, bond, brain, bui, cash, court, Crime, death, dies, driving, drugs, fatal, fatality, grand, indictment, jail, judge, jury, man, marijuana, Martin County Jail, medical, misdemeanor, murder, murders, name, police, possession, probation, roads, robbery, saw, Stuart, teen, teens, trial, woman

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 9:31 am and is filed under Martin County, Stuart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.