Bailed teen puts LV couple in fear

Bill Gang

Tuesday, Dec. 3, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Fear has returned to the home of a Las Vegas couple who were shot in a reputed revenge raid by three teenagers.

James Trujillo, a 19-year-old admitted participant in the attack that nearly killed Richard Stevens and seriously injured his wife, Bonnie, has been released from jail after his family posted $100,000 bail.

"He gets to go home and spend the holidays with his family and it ruins ours," Richard Stevens, 53, said Monday.

"I can't imagine how this could happen," he said, adding that he and his wife "fear that he could come after us again."

Trujillo has pleaded guilty to two attempted-murder charges that could put him in prison for 80 years when he is sentenced Jan. 17 by District Judge John McGroarty.

He and two co-defendants have been in the Clark County Detention Center since the January 1995 incident at the Stevens' South Shores home, across Lake Mead Boulevard from Summerlin.

Trujillo's attorney, Michael Amador, had asked last month that the teenager be released on house arrest pending the sentencing, but McGroarty refused, although he did set bail.

"I guess there is no such thing as no bail, but $100,000 is easy to raise," Stevens said.

A suspect has to put up 10 percent of a bail bond -- in this case, $10,000 -- and commit property or belongings equal to the value of the bond. That's done to ensure full payment of the bond should the defendant not show up for court.

He said that while he considers Trujillo someone who might flee to avoid prison, he is more concerned that Trujillo will be staying in town.

"We're not crazy about him knowing where we live," Stevens said. "My wife is fearful again of being home. It's going to spoil our holidays completely."

He vowed he wouldn't be victimized again.

"We've had an alarm system put in since the incident and I'll have something with me at all times," Stevens said. When asked if he was referring to a gun, he responded, "Whatever is necessary."

But Amador said the couple "has absolutely nothing to fear."

"Trujillo has been cooperative with the police and has everything to gain from continued cooperation, counseling and law-abiding behavior since he still faces sentencing," the attorney said.

Amador said McGroarty "made the right decision" in setting what the defense lawyer described as "a huge amount of bail."

In the raid, the couple was confronted by three armed bandits who barged into their home demanding cash and jewelry.

Richard Stevens was shotgunned twice in the stomach when he tried to disarm the gunman and Bonnie Stevens was gunned down outside the home as she tried to flee.

Deputy District Attorney David Roger said Trujillo agreed as part of his plea bargain to testify against the teenage brothers alleged to have joined him in the near-fatal raid.

One of those brothers, Nicholas Neff, 18, later pleaded guilty to all six felony charges that carry a potential punishment of more than 100 years in prison. He also will be sentenced Jan. 17.

The third defendant, John Neff, 19, is scheduled to stand trial Jan. 13 on the charges of conspiracy, burglary with a firearm, two counts of attempted robbery and two of attempted murder.

Roger said the attack was alleged to have been in retaliation for the eviction of Trujillo's parents from a condominium owned by the Stevenses.

Although Trujillo admitted he had instigated the incident, testimony at a preliminary hearing indicated he did not personally inflict any of the injuries.

But Richard Stevens disputed the contention that Trujillo was not an active participant.

"If he wasn't the one who stabbed or shot me, then he was the one holding me," Stevens said.

Amador countered that Trujillo fled the home when the violence began and was running down the driveway when the two shotgun blasts were fired that left Stevens incapacitated for months and unable to testify at the Justice Court preliminary hearing.

But Bonnie Stevens, 48, did testify how three masked men -- one armed with a shotgun, another with a machete and the third with a knife -- barged into their home and tried to rob them.

She said when her husband made a grab for the man with the shotgun, she bolted for the back door. She said she heard two shotgun blasts behind her.

When she reached the front yard, the woman testified, the bandits cut her off and shot her in the side as she tried to make her way to a neighbor's house. Some pellets also hit her face.

Although she couldn't identify the defendants because of their bandanas, testimony from their friends and police officers connected the trio to the crime.

One witness said John Neff bragged to him that he "O.J.'d the man" -- referring to the stabbing of Richard Stevens before he was shot.

Neff, the 17-year-old witness said, explained that Richard Stevens "got brave" and tried to wrest the shotgun from Nicholas Neff. He said John Neff justified the knife attack as protecting his brother.

In referring to the injuries to the woman's face, the witness said the Neff brothers chuckled as John Neff explained that Nicholas Neff "gave the lady a facelift" when he shot her.

Metro Police said Trujillo admitted he purchased the shotgun just two weeks before the assault.

Metro Detective Bret Empey said Trujillo told him he just wanted to scare the couple and it was the Neffs' decision to rob them.

Nicholas Neff was connected to the incident by a high school buddy, 18-year-old Savario Mumphery, who said he was asked by Neff the next morning to hide a shotgun for him.

The three defendants were arrested the day after the assault after a tip led police to the South Cove Apartments, 1521 E. Fremont St., where the teenagers had lived only a few days.