Authorities taking new look at cop’s actions in drive-by

Art Nadler and Bill Gang

Friday, Aug. 14, 1998 | 11:02 a.m.

After 21-year-old Daniel Mendoza was killed in a drive-by shooting in December 1996, then-Metro Police Officer Christopher Brady became something of a dark hero by solving the crime.

At a time when the killing seemed destined to remain unsolved, Brady admitted he had been at the murder scene and, in fact, had driven the getaway truck. Brady named his buddy and fellow officer Ron Mortensen as the gunman but denied knowing that gunfire was going to result from what was supposed to be playful harassment of street gang members.

The district attorney's office decided at the time Brady hadn't committed any crime and shouldn't face criminal charges as an accomplice, but that may be changing.

Prosecutors and police are again looking at Brady's role in the fatal shooting because of federal grand jury testimony that Brady had talked repeatedly to follow officers about committing drive-by shootings.

Deputy District Attorney Gary Guymon said Wednesday that charges of conspiracy to commit murder could be filed against Brady if the new information can be connected to the Mendoza slaying.

"Our office is in contact with the homicide department, and we will intensively focus on this new information," Guymon said.

Mortensen, 31, was convicted of first-degree murder largely on the testimony of Brady, who detailed a night of drinking, erratic driving and systematic harassment of drug dealers and gang members. Testimony at the trial indicated it was all part of Mortensen's birthday celebration.

But Mortensen contended at his trial that Brady was the actual gunman who later set him up to take the fall.

Mortensen's attorney Frank Cremen is attempting to parlay the story told to a grand jury by Metro Officer Marc Barry into a new trial for the convict who is serving a life-prison sentence without the possibility of parole.

Barry testified last month that on at least half a dozen occasions before the Mendoza shooting he heard Brady talk about doing drive-by shootings. The conversations, Barry stated, occurred during off-duty hours at a local pub that is a hangout for officers from the Southeast Area Command. It is the same tavern where Brady and Mortensen went after the Mendoza shooting.

Brady, 26, turned himself into homicide detectives two days after Mendoza's death outside his McKellar Circle apartment, near Paradise Road and Twain Avenue, that is in an area frequented by street gang members.

Guymon said Wednesday that Barry had not told authorities before Mortensen's trial of Brady's alleged quotes advocating drive-by shootings.

Cremen is arguing to the court that if the information had been available at the trial, it would have supported Mortensen's position and there would have been no conviction.

But the trial wasn't just a credibility contest between Brady and Mortensen. Several people who were dodging bullets coming from Brady's truck testified that Mortensen was the one they saw firing the shots.

Ballistic evidence showed the bullets came from Mortensen's pistol, although he testified that Brady had picked it up from the passenger seat, leaned across the truck and fired the shots out of the passenger window.

Guymon has said that his office still believes Mortensen is the gunman.

Brady resigned from Metro in January 1997. Last month, he applied to the city of Henderson to become a corrections officer, and reportedly was not hired. He previously tried to become a police officer on the Paiute Indian Reservation but also was turned down for that position.