Gang killer gets 44 years to life

Bill Gang

Tuesday, Nov. 30, 1999 | 10:57 a.m.

The leader of a North Las Vegas street gang who was convicted of first-degree murder for the execution slaying of a fellow gang member has been sentenced to 44 years to life in prison.

Twenty-year-old Brendan James Nasby had believed that Michael Lamont Beasley, 18, was trying to take over his leadership position and fired three shots into the back of the victim's head, a jury ruled.

Nasby was convicted Oct. 19 of first-degree murder and conspiracy. District Judge Mark Gibbons on Monday had the job of determining the sentence.

While Gibbons could have sentenced Nasby to life behind bars with no chance for parole, the judge chose a sentence that will incarcerate the man for 44 years before he will be eligible for parole.

Gibbons said Nasby should have a sentence that will some day give him a chance for freedom, but should be long enough to protect society.

The judge said he gave a sentence that was four years longer than the minimum because of trial testimony that Nasby had tried to intimidate witnesses even from his cell at the Clark County Detention Center.

Nasby had persuaded a female friend to attack one of the witnesses in the case with a hammer. That friend testified as a prosecution witness at the trial to say she had been manipulated by Nasby's lies.

The intimidation had resulted in Nasby being confined to an isolation cell at the county jail.

At Monday's sentencing Nasby didn't plead for leniency so much as complain about what he said were squalid conditions in the isolation cells that included urine soaked mattresses requiring him to wash himself with bleach to quell the smell.

The most devastating testimony at Nasby's trial came from the three gang members who joined the defendant and Beasley on the deadly trip to Lone Mountain.

The victim had been told that they were going for target practice, but as Beasley looked for targets, Nasby walked up behind him and fired three shots into the back of his head, according to trial testimony.

In addition to the co-conspirators, witnesses included two jail inmates, who said Nasby admitted his role to them.

Beasley's body was found near Lone Mountain by an early-morning jogger.