Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Families request death for killer of 4

David Mowen's long-held belief in the death penalty has never been tested, until now.

Mowen, the father of one of four young men shot to death two years ago during a robbery, will be among numerous witnesses scheduled to take the stand Tuesday to argue for the ultimate punishment against Donte Johnson.

"Somebody like that does not deserve to breathe again," David Mowen said outside the Clark County District Court building late Friday, minutes after a jury found Johnson guilty on four counts of murder.

Johnson's fate rests in the hands of the same jury that found him guilty of the Aug. 14, 1998, slaying of Matthew Mowen, 19, Jeffrey Biddle, 19, Tracey Gorringe, 21, and Peter Talamantez, 17.

The four were bound at the wrists and ankles with duct tape after three men burst into a home on Terra Linda Avenue. The robbers were looking for cash and drugs, but found only the four friends relaxing.

All four were killed by a single gunshot to the back of the head, prosecutors said at Johnson's trial last week, to eliminate them as witnesses.

Prosecutors presented an avalanche of evidence that tied the 21-year-old Johnson to the crime, including blood from one of the victims on his pants and other DNA evidence linking him to the scene.

Johnson's former girlfriend and several others also testified that he bragged about the shooting, and some of the items stolen after the killing, including a pager, were found where Johnson was living when he was arrested.

After seven hours of deliberations, the jury Friday convicted Johnson of all four murder charges. He was also found guilty on four counts of robbery, four counts of kidnapping and one count each of burglary and conspiracy.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Guymon will now ask the jurors to send Johnson to death row.

"The toughest decision is still ahead for the jurors," Guymon said Friday.

The prosecutor will argue Johnson deserves the death penalty for several reasons, including a lengthy criminal history that includes numerous acts of violence. And the aggravating nature of the latest crime in which four young men were killed should tip the scales toward death, Guymon said.

"We've believed all along this is truly the worst of the worst," he said.

Among those who will testify for the prosecution will be Derrick Simpson, paralyzed from a bullet allegedly fired by Johnson during a drug deal gone bad on May 4, 1998. Simpson was shot numerous times and spent three months in a coma. He was left paralyzed from the neck down.

"Simpson will testify from a wheelchair" during the penalty phase, Guymon said.

Johnson still faces an attempted murder charge in connection with that incident.

The victims' family members, many of whom attended much of Johnson's trial, are also expected to testify.

Defense attorney Dayvid Figler said Friday jurors will also hear about Johnson's troubled life. Born into poverty and abandoned by his parents, Johnson grew up on the mean streets of Los Angeles, Figler said.

Johnson did not testify at the trial, but could take the stand in an effort to save himself from the death penalty.

The hearing before Judge Jeffrey Sobel is expected to last two days.

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