August 30: John Anthony Smith, 54, was well liked in his South Jersey neighborhood. Friends and residents described him as wise, proud, and stubborn. So stubborn that on the night of his death he had denied an offer to sleep in a companion’s home. Smith was awoken from his park bench when four area teenagers began to punch, kick and beat him with a stick. Smith was taken to Cooper University Hospital where he suffered for 18 days before dying. The motive is unknown; the teenagers did not take any of Smith’s personal belongings. If tried as adults, the young men aged 15 to 17 years, could face life in prison. Their status hearing was held in March 2008.