Confession in slayings will be used at trial

Bill Gang

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 1999 | 11:23 a.m.

In an effort to avoid the most damaging evidence against him in a quadruple murder, Terrell Cochise Young took the witness stand to complain that his confessions were the result of coercion and a beating at the hands of police.

But the legal maneuver to have the taped confessions ruled unlawful and kept from surfacing at the 20-year-old defendant's murder trial failed Monday.

District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski ruled that Young knew what he was doing when he gave up his right to remain silent as Metro Police homicide detectives questioned him about his role in the execution-style slaying of four young men a year ago.

Young is the second of three defendants charged in the slayings to stand trial. The first, 19-year-old Sikia Smith, was convicted of first-degree murder earlier this summer and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The alleged triggerman, 19-year-old Donte Johnson, is set to face a jury in January.

Young testified at a pretrial hearing Monday that he hadn't understood his constitutional rights and relied on the interpretation from detectives.

He added that he admitted his role only because those lawmen had promised it would lead to a plea bargain that would return him to the streets in 10 or 15 years.

But police and prosecutors have said they made no such deal with the high school dropout with a history of criminal activity.

Although Young is not alleged to be the gunman -- who fired single bullets into the back of the four victims as they lay gagged and bound with duct tape during an organized and systematic robbery -- prosecutors still are seeking the death penalty.

The audio tape recordings, the judge ruled, support the prosecution's position that Young knew what he was doing when he admitted his involvement in the deadly spree on Aug. 14, 1998.

For the second day, Young's family and supporters paraded protest signs in front of the Clark County Courthouse and chanted such slogans as "No justice, no peace." They handed out fliers and lamented the unwillingness of the justice system to deal fairly with a black man who speaks a street dialect.

In response, the parents of some victims wore T-shirts to the courthouse declaring, "Murder in any language is wrong. They murdered my child."

The four victims of the shootings in the house on Terra Linda Avenue, near Tropicana Avenue and Nellis Boulevard, were Jeffrey Biddle, 19, Tracey Gorringe, 20, Matthew Mowen, 19, and Peter Talamantez, 17.

Young's aunt, Marzetta Love, said she and the others are not protesting in hopes that the defendant will be able to escape accountability, but only to ensure that he gets lawyers who will fight for him.

"I feel he should be held accountable for what he did but not by violating his due process rights," Love said.

Young's supporters have been urging Pavlikowski to remove defense lawyers Lew Wolfbrandt and Martin Hastings from the case, alleging they have all but ignored the defendant for the 11 months he has been in jail.

Young called them "unprofessional, ineffective and lazy" lawyers who have failed to visit him in jail, provide him with information about the case or file necessary motions to dismiss or reduce the charges.

"I filed all the motions that I believed had merit," Wolfbrandt responded.

Pavlikowski disagreed a change is warranted and ordered Young's trial to go forward with jury selection Wednesday.

Love said she has hired two other lawyers to defend Young.

But those attorneys, who say they have the ability to communicate with Young, have been denied that opportunity.

Terence Dickinson is not a Nevada lawyer and his associate, Las Vegas lawyer Ben Childs, is not certified under Nevada Supreme Court rules to handle death penalty cases.

Dickinson said a writ on the issue is being prepared for filing in U.S. Federal Court.

While Young initially told police he had no knowledge of the quadruple murder and did not participate, he later changed his story.

In his final statement, Young said the robbery was planned because a fourth man -- who is not yet charged -- had information that the victims had $6,000 in cash and a large amount of drugs in the home.

Young admitted in his confession that the bandits left with only a couple of hundred dollars, a VCR, a video game unit and a few pills.

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