Murderer awaits jury’s life-or-death decision

Bill Gang

Monday, Sept. 20, 1999 | 11:16 a.m.

Terrell Cochise Young, 20, could learn today whether he will live or die for his role in the execution murders of four young men.

After closing arguments, deliberations were scheduled to begin by the nine-woman, three-man jury that convicted Young last week of four counts of first-degree murder and a variety of other counts in the Aug. 14, 1998, slayings during an ill-conceived robbery.

The jury will decide whether to recommend the death penalty, a life sentence without the possibility of parole or a life sentence with parole.

On Friday Young and some of his family urged the jurors in District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski's courtroom to be lenient and merciful.

They all portrayed the defendant as a talented athlete and studious young man on the path to college and a productive life until a fight in his junior year of high school resulted in his arrest. That resulted in his being kicked off the football and wrestling teams.

His life continued on a downward slide until things turned deadly just over a year ago, the jury was told at the penalty hearing.

"Everything went wrong just from one fight," Young told the jury in an unsworn statement.

He argued that the three weeks he spent "on the wild side" shouldn't outweigh the rest of his life -- much of which was spent caring for his younger siblings while their mother was off using drugs.

Young said he "feels sorry" for the families of the victims, but asked the jury, "Would it be just to put another family through that" by sentencing him to death by lethal injection.

His mother, Willena Warren, admitted she had drug and anger problems and didn't do what she should have for her children. But she also told how proud she had been of Young's achievements in athletics and school.

Young's aunt, Marzetta Love, said that the defendant's unselfish care of his four brothers and sisters and willingness to help other family members earned him the nickname "John," after the television character "John Boy" in the defunct series "The Waltons."

Love said Young "doesn't deserve" a sentence of death or life in prison with no parole.

"His life shouldn't be wasted," she told the jury. "He should be given another chance."

The lightest possible sentence of life with an opportunity of parole would still keep him behind bars for 40 years.

Testimony at Young's trial showed his trip to the "wild side" had involved five murders in two incidents and a shooting at a hotel-casino that was intended to result in two other slayings.

While defense attorneys are expected to argue today that Young should not get a death sentence because he wasn't the triggerman in the quadruple murder, prosecutors likely will argue that his willing involvement in the incident is enough to warrant the ultimate punishment.

Evidence that his deadly ways extended before and after the multiple murders refutes any claim that Young was only a minor player in an isolated incident, prosecutors have said.

Most of the damning evidence came from Young's statements to police admitting his role in the robbery, slayings and involvement in the dumping of another murder victim's body near the Las Vegas Speedway.

That occurred 10 days before the quadruple murder, and Young named Donte Johnson as the killer in that case also. He previously told police that Johnson, 19, was the one who stood over the four young men in their home near Tropicana Avenue and Nellis Boulevard and fired single bullets into their heads.

The young men had been duct-taped and gagged while their home was ransacked in search of what the bandits believed to be $6,000 in cash and a large quantity of drugs. Only about $200, a VCR, a video game system and a few pills were taken.

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

While Johnson was named liberally at the trial as the gunman, he does not face a jury until Jan. 10.

A third defendant in the case, Sikia Smith, 19, already has been found guilty of first-degree murder for his role as the one who ransacked the young men's home and has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Testimony at the trial showed that a few days after the murders, Young and two others went to small hotel-casino in search of a man who owed Young money for drugs. When the pair were spotted, Young is alleged to have opened fire with his pistol -- narrowly missing the targets and sending bullets through walls and into guest rooms.

The jury also heard how Young attacked corrections officers in the Clark County Detention Center shortly after he was pronounced guilty of murder, robbery, kidnapping and conspiracy charges last week. Two of the officers were hospitalized.

Meanwhile another attempt by an attorney hired by Young's family members to get Young's court-appointed attorneys fired was turned down by the Nevada Supreme Court Friday.

The high court warned the lawyer Benjamin Childs he would face sanctions if he kept filing frivolous motions.

Childs, who says he was hired by the extended family of Young, filed a motion Sept. 9 contending that Young's defense lawyers Lew Wolfbrandt and Martin Hastings have not done everything they should in representing Young. Young, 20, can't communicate with the two lawyers, Childs said.

Young's mother Willena "Maria" Warren, was arrested when she hit defense attorney Wolfbrandt, claiming he did not do enough to defend her son.

The court denied that motion and noted that the current petition is nearly the same. It said, "...we caution attorney Childs that the repetitive filing of what amounts to identical petitions for extraordinary relief will not be tolerated." If it continues, Childs could face sanctions, the court said.