An almost six-month ordeal for a physically disabled Lawrence teen ended Wednesday when a judge found the last of four boys guilty of beating the teen this spring in a Lawrence city park.

But the victim, 15-year-old Josh Graves, wasn’t there to hear the verdict. He said he was tired of sitting in court and seeing his attackers face-to-face. And he doesn’t think the punishments — which include community service, curfews and probation-type supervision — have been severe enough for some of the boys.

“Why do they only get away with community service? Because they’re kids,” Josh said Wednesday. “They hit harder than kids.”

Josh, who has limited use of the right side of his body because of cerebral palsy, said he’s changed in the months since the May 26 beating at Clinton Park, 500 Ill., when the group of boys approached him, asked him if he was retarded, and punched and kicked him, leaving him to suffer seizures and vomiting. He’s now undergoing therapy for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I can get angrier easily,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t know where to put my anger. I get kind of scared because I don’t want to be a vicious kid.”

Most of Josh’s anger is for the two boys who were found guilty of punching him in his head, including 14-year-old Marcus D. Spates, whose trial ended Wednesday. Josh’s words are more forgiving when he talks about the two boys found guilty of simple battery for kicking him after he fell to the ground.

Life hasn’t been all bad for Josh since the attack. When he learned this fall that two of the defendants would be attending West Junior High School with him, his mother got him moved to South Junior High School, which he likes better.

And after people learned of his ordeal, Josh received a computer, bicycles and thousands of dollars in gifts and donations — some of which he used to buy a special therapeutic mattress to alleviate his physical pain. He said he would appreciate the outpouring of support the rest of his life.

Josh Graves, 15, talks about his day at school as his mother, Teri Snell, prepares dinner. I

The mothers of two defendants — one who punched Josh in the head and one who kicked him — said by telephone Wednesday that their sons were genuinely sorry for what happened.

“Something like this shouldn’t have happened in our community,” one said.

“I just hope they learn from their mistakes and try to better themselves,” another said.

Both women spoke on condition their names not be published.

Shortly after the beating, statements from the defendants’ parents were coupled with claims they believed their sons were being treated unfairly. That outraged Josh’s mother, Teri Snell, who argued people were forgetting the real victim.

Today, Snell said she’s forgiven all the boys and is on decent terms with most of their parents. If Josh is willing, he’ll have the chance to sit down and talk with the boys as part of a reconciliation program, but he’s not yet sure he wants to do that.

“You might be surprised, if you give them a chance, what they might say to you,” Snell said to her son. “Maybe you wouldn’t be so angry anymore.”

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