Jury leans toward life in bar slayings

Bill Gang

Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2000 | 10:30 a.m.

The jury trying to decide whether Kenshawn Maxey should live in prison or be executed for murdering two people during a bungled bar robbery was given one last chance today to reach a verdict.

The jury in District Judge Mark Gibbons' courtroom announced late Monday they were deadlocked at 11-1, in favor of sentencing the 19-year-old defendant to a life prison sentence with no possibility of parole.

Gibbons sent the jury home and told them to return today for a final push at reaching the unanimous verdict necessary.

If the jury is hung, the case goes to a three-judge panel for the decision. Such panels vote for the death penalty in about 90 percent of cases. But Maxey's case may be different because he was 17 years old when he and three others robbed O'Aces Bar and Grill on Rainbow Boulevard in May 1998.

The decision of the district attorney's office to seek the death penalty for Maxey resulted in an international letter writing campaign by members of Amnesty International complaining about seeking that punishment for someone who was under 18 when the crime was committed.

The letters point out that the United States signed a treaty outlawing such death penalties, although federal authorities reserved the right to disregard that section, making it one of only a handful of countries to execute underage killers.

In the robbery, Maxey killed not only bartender Sal Zendano, but his own best friend, Leshaun Levi, 18, as the two men struggled over a weapon. Maxey was caught as he exited the bar, trying to drag his mortally wounded buddy to safety.

In seeking leniency, defense attorneys emphasized Maxey's deprived and abuse-filled childhood.

His mother was a drug-using prostitute who eventually was slain and buried in a shallow desert grave when Maxey was only 7 years old.

His father is an admitted drug dealer who has spent the last 10 years in a federal prison outside Phoenix.

Kenshawn Maxey was raised by a parade of relatives and also spent time in a foster home and a Boulder City group home.