Jury to decide fate of killing suspect

Bill Gang

Thursday, Jan. 27, 2000 | 10:58 a.m.

Tears streamed down the face of Kenshawn Maxey as the teen facing double murder charges relived the bar robbery that went sour and ended in the deaths of his best friend and a bartender.

The 19-year-old Maxey admitted his involvement in virtually every aspect of the crime.

The jury was scheduled to begin deliberations today following closing arguments in District Judge John McGroarty's courtroom.

If Maxey is convicted of first-degree murder, the same jury will have to decide whether the man who was 17 years old at the time deserves the death penalty or should be sentenced to life in prison.

Maxey told the jury, "I was another person that day" in May 1998 at O'Aces Bar & Grill on Rainbow Boulevard.

He said he needed money because his girlfriend was pregnant and that he was offered the opportunity to participate in a bar robbery by his best friend, 18-year-old Lashawn Levi.

Maxey said he, Levi and Artis Moore, 20, drove around in search of a likely tavern to rob and chose O'Aces.

He said he and Levi entered the bar with guns drawn, and he described and how he waved his laser-sighted pistol, as instructed by his friend, to scare the patrons into lying on the floor.

"Lashawn said to act real vicious and most likely they'll get down," he said.

While he held the customers at bay and Moore waited in the car, Levi went behind the bar to empty the cash register but found himself in a struggle with the bartender, Salvatore Zendano.

As they wrestled over Levi's shotgun, Maxey said a shot rang out, and he heard Levi yell for his companion to shoot the bartender. Maxey said he opened fire at Zendano, diverting his eyes as he did.

Maxey began to cry in court as he told how his bullets not only killed Zendano but also hit Levi.

Maxey testified that as he started to drag Levi to the car, he asked his friend to give him a sign that he was still alive. He tearfully recalled that Levi blinked.

The teenager said that when he reached the bar door and opened it, he was confronted by a Metro Police officer and arrested.

Moore, 20, also was apprehended and has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"How do you feel today?" Special Public Defender Philip Kohn asked Maxey in court.

"Very sorry," Maxey responded as he wiped tears from his eyes. "I didn't mean for anybody to get hurt."

The Clark County district attorney's office is seeking the death sentence despite an international letter-writing campaign on Maxey's behalf because of his age at the time of the crime.