By Mark LaFlamme,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – The only adult charged in a beating at Edward Little High School earlier this year was sentenced Monday to 30 days in jail.

Roberto Continat, 18, was ordered to spend a month in the county jail and to pay $200 restitution to the victim. Continat was given a stay of execution for two weeks, meaning he is not required to begin serving his time until the end of the month.

The sentence stems from a Jan. 26 incident in which police say Continat and two other students, ages 16 and 17, jumped another in a school hallway, and punched and kicked him repeatedly.

School officials suspended the three, and police summoned them on assault charges. Findings from the police investigation were also sent to the Attorney General’s Office, where the case is being examined as a possible hate crime.

The three students who were charged are black. The victim is a white 17-year-old junior at the school. He was taken to a Lewiston hospital after the attack and treated for injuries to his face and head. He returned to school the next day.

Continat could have been handed a fine and no jail time at Monday’s hearing.

District Court Judge Rick E. Lawrence, however, cited the fact that the victim was kicked while he was down on the floor as well as Continat’s ongoing legal problems as he sentenced him to jail time.

Continat appeared in court again this month on a charge of disorderly conduct. That charge stems from another scuffle that is believed to be connected to ongoing disputes between two groups of Edward Little students.

The school attack in January gained the attention of the press and resulted in allegations of racial tensions at the school. Some students said racial slurs were an ongoing problem at Edward Little, while others insisted it was not a factor in the attack.

School officials and others involved in the case said the violence was related to an earlier incident in which the victim’s sister was struck by a belt after a high school basketball game.

That incident led to a verbal exchange between two groups of teens from Lewiston and Auburn, school officials said. Those hostilities carried over to further altercations leading up to the assault at the school, investigators said.

The teen who was injured told police that three students approached him in a hallway and beat him until he fell to the floor. The victim also said at least one suspect kicked him in the head while he was down.

The status of the case against the two juveniles charged in the assault was unknown on Monday.