Raymond Palomino, Chicago Teen, In Court Over Beating Video: Judge Denies Reduced Bond

A Cook County judge Monday would not reduce bond for a Chicago teenager facing charges in the videotaped beating and robbery of a teen this month.

Raymond Palomino, 17, of the 3500 block of South Hoyne Avenue, is one of seven teens charged in connection with the brutal beating, captured on video and posted on YouTube, of a 17-year-old boy. Palomino has been charged with robbery and aggravated battery, both felonies, and his bail was set at $100,000, an amount his attorney Ilia Usharovich called "a spit in the face."

In court Monday, Usharovich told the judge his client is a "little kid" and a "peanut" and deserves to be free on bond so he can attend school, the Chicago Tribune reports. He further argued that the attack was "retaliation" for an earlier incident where the beating victim and his friends jumped Palomino and another boy.

But Judge Sandra Ramos denied both that request and another that would have allowed Palomino to be released while still monitored electronically, CBS Chicago reports.

Palomino's father, Michael Palomino, a Cook County sheriff's deputy who turned his son in, pointed out to NBC Chicago that his son is the only one of the teens being charged as an adult in the incident. He believes his son is being unfairly targeted.

"They're making it sound like he did everything. It's just one side of the story," Palomino's father told NBC.

(Scroll down to watch Palomino's father comment on the charges facing his son.)

The rest of the youths allegedly involved in the Jan. 15 attack, including two 16-year-old boys, three 15-year-old boys and one 15-year-old girl, have all been cited on the same charges and turned over to the juvenile detention center.

The attack took place in an alley behind James Ward Elementary School, located at 28th and Princeton. A YouTube video of the incident showed the victim, a Curie High School senior, being punched in the face and kicked repeatedly by a group of attackers while being taunted with racial slurs. His attackers also robbed the victim of $180 in cash, in addition to his sneakers.

(Click here to view the original YouTube video, which contains graphic violence and language that may be unsuitable for some audiences, of the attack.)

Psychologists have called the videotaped attack the latest in a disturbing phenomenon that harkens an age-old human penchant for warning perceived rivals that their group is more powerful than others, the Associated Press reported. The video also, according to Pam Rutledge, a psychologist with the Media Psychology Research Center, shows how teens today may have a shaky grasp on how cyberspace works.

"These guys are bragging online without understanding they just provided irrefutable evidence of a crime," Rutledge told the AP. "It says something both about their naivete -- and their stupidity."

A preliminary hearing for Palomino has been set for Feb. 10.

WATCH Palomino's father comment on the attack: