Teen gets 90 years in killing over traffic incident

Bill Gang

Tuesday, Nov. 19, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Mario Taylor, at age 16, was obviously distressed in court knowing he was going to be spending more years in prison than he has been alive for the shooting death of a man over a traffic incident.

But after he pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder, it was out of his hands.

He had hoped for a sentence that would have let him serve out his sentence in less time than the 20 years that would give him eligibility for parole.

He hanged his head when he was given a 90-year sentence.

District Judge Nancy Becker tried to console Taylor but explained that she wasn't going to let him back on the streets without the supervision and controls that a parole officer can provide.

She reminded him that he would only be 36 when he would gain his freedom and will have perhaps 50 years of life left.

"I know it's tough for you, but it's tough also for the victim's family," she said.

The family of his victim, Christopher Michael Beaver, however, already is making Taylor's life tougher than it might otherwise be.

Becker noted that Taylor won't be able to serve his time at the medium-security Indian Springs prison because Beaver's brother is serving time there and "they can't protect you."

The judge said that leaves the minimum-security prison at Jean, 30 miles south of Las Vegas, or the Lovelock prison in Northern Nevada, where Taylor would be isolated from his Las Vegas family.

The final decision will be up to prison officials, and the judge admitted, "If they feel you'll be preyed upon (at Jean), they'll send you to Lovelock."

Taylor had been charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge as his trial was about to begin.

The incident leading to Beaver's death began when the teenager and three other youths were narrowly missed by a car on Jan. 9 as they walked near Washington Avenue and Rainbow Boulevard.

The car, driven by 22-year-old Zack King, pulled into a driveway a short distance away and the boys pursued it.

They were confronted at the curb by Beaver, 22, and after words were exchanged, Taylor shot him in the chest with a .22-caliber pistol.

Police reports state that Taylor had taken a pistol with him that night to a High on Life anti-drug meeting but let a friend hold it for him.

As the teenagers ran to King's house for the confrontation over the traffic incident, Taylor asked that his pistol be returned to him, the report alleged.

Police said Taylor later confessed his responsibility for the shooting to a friend's mother and then to detectives.