Corrections officer describes attack by convicted killer

Bill Gang

Thursday, Sept. 16, 1999 | 11:38 a.m.

His face marred with bruises and welts, a Clark County Detention Center corrections officer told a jury how convicted quadruple killer Terrell Cochise Young took advantage of their one-on-one situation and attacked him in a violent flurry of punches.

The assault came just minutes after Young was convicted of four counts of murder and 10 other charges and was being returned to his jail cell.

The testimony from Officer Greg Reeves on Wednesday came as the first day of Young's penalty hearing ended in District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski's courtroom.

Deputy District Attorney Gary Guymon called Young "the worst of the worst" and said "not even jailers are safe" from the violence that has become almost routine for the 20-year-old defendant.

The jury that convicted Young on Tuesday must decide if the appropriate punishment for his role in the execution-style quadruple murder should be death or life in prison with or without the possibility of parole.

The violent outburst in the jail and other tales of misconduct behind bars would seem to preclude a defense argument -- which has become routine in many death penalty cases -- that the defendant need not be executed because he can function well in the structured society of prison.

Young was not alleged to be the triggerman who methodically gunned down four young men on Aug. 14, 1998, during a robbery of their home, but prosecutors still are seeking the death penalty for him.

Young is the second man to be convicted in the case. The first was 19-year-old Sikia Smith, who was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole earlier this summer for his role in ransacking the victims' home.

The victims were Matthew Mowen, 19, Jeffrey Biddle, 19, Tracey Gorringe, 20, and Peter Talamantez, 17.

As they did at Smith's trial, the families of the victims are expected to testify at Young's penalty hearing about the devastation the murders caused in their lives.

The alleged gunman, Donte Johnson, 19, is scheduled to stand trial Jan. 10.

Guymon said during opening statements that the multiple murder was not an isolated incident in an otherwise productive life. He noted Young's involvement in another murder, a shooting incident in the public hallways of a Las Vegas hotel-casino, and an armed confrontation with a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper -- all within days of the quadruple murder.

Tuesday's incident at the jail wasn't the first episode of violence by Young while he has been incarcerated, but Reeves said the fury of the assault was the worst he has seen in the 13 years he has spent as a corrections officer.

After an outburst in court by Young during jury selection at his trial last week, during which he scattered documents and overturned a table, he was fitted with a security stun belt. When he spit on his own lawyers a short time later, the belt was activated and Young was zapped into submission.

Tuesday's incident occurred shortly after the belt was removed and Young changed from his court clothes into his jail uniform.

Reeves said he was just beginning to place handcuffs on Young before leading him back to his cell when the defendant whirled around and pummeled him to the ground, causing him to cover up as much as he could and call for help.

Corrections Officer Christopher Leyba told how he raced to Reeves' aid and tackled the defendant as he was pounding the fallen officer in the face and head with windmill-style punches.

Leyba said he then became the target of Young's assault, but when the defendant heard other officers approaching, he broke off the attack and fell to the ground with his hands under him.

"I asked him why he did it," Leyba recalled, telling the jury of nine women and three men that Young responded, "I don't give a (expletive) about you people."

Corrections Officer James Peal quoted Young as bragging earlier this summer, "I'm one of the most notorious inmates in the history of Nevada."

Defense attorney Lew Wolfbrandt alleged the altercation was precipitated by a slap to Young's head by Reeves. The officer denied that, but admitted he had slapped Young in the head on an earlier occasion when he refused to follow orders.

Reeves was transported to a hospital for treatment of a concussion and Leyba received treatment for a bruised wrist. Neither was admitted.

Young was convicted primarily on his confession to police after his arrest in September 1998 as he sat at a bus stop outside the Metro Police homicide bureau on West Charleston Boulevard.

The tape-recorded confession was played for the jury last week and more of his statement was played Wednesday. The latest part involves Young's admission that 10 days before the quadruple murder he helped Johnson and another man dispose of a drug dealer who Young said had been beaten, strangled and suffocated by Johnson.

Young said he had been outside the Thunderbird hotel-casino on Las Vegas Boulevard near Charleston Boulevard on Aug. 4, 1998, selling crack cocaine when the murder occurred in the room he shared with Johnson.

The body of Darnel "Snoop" Johnson was found the following day off Interstate 15 at Speedway Boulevard, north of Las Vegas.

That slaying, according to Young's confession, occurred because Johnson had stolen drugs from a third man.

Metro Homicide Det. Roy Chandler said the case has been presented to the district attorney's office for prosecution, but charges have not yet been filed.

In other testimony Wednesday:

NHP Sgt. Robert Honea told how he stopped a stolen car driven by Donte Johnson three days after the quadruple murders and how Young emerged from the passenger side with a pistol at his side. Honea said the pair fled on foot after he pulled his own gun and ordered them to surrender.

Christopher Douthit testified that in 1996, when he was 15, he was beaten with canes by Young and several others after they pursued him into a market. Douthit said he suffered a broken rib and neck injuries.

David Gilbreth, a former manager at a discount clothing store, told how he had stopped Young and another teenager for shoplifting in November 1997 and was attacked by the pair.

Gloria Golberg-Fenster, a juvenile probation officer, said that Young was given probation for the caning and the robbery, but failed to comply with any of the terms. When Young turned 18 and became an adult in 1997, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail and his juvenile probation was terminated.