Cochran considers taking Finks case

Keith Paul

Tuesday, March 6, 2001 | 11:17 a.m.

Nationally known attorney Johnnie Cochran's firm is looking into last week's shooting death of a 16-year-old high school student by a North Las Vegas Police officer to determine if it will represent the family.

"We're reviewing the case," Randy H. McMurray, an attorney in Cochran's Los Angeles-based firm, said. "We still need to talk more with (Cochran) about it before we make the decision."

A 23-year-old officer shot and killed Billy Ray Finks Jr., 16, Feb. 27. Police say the teen got out of a stolen car with a toy gun, which the officer thought was real. Police said they recovered a chrome-colored toy gun next to Finks' body. A 15-year-old passenger in the car wrote out a statement saying Finks got out of the car with nothing in his hands.

The family last week contacted the office of Cochran, who gained national recognition during the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

Cochran is in New York defending hip hop mogul Sean "Puffy" Combs, who is on trial on charges stemming from a shooting inside a nightclub last year. Cochran will speak with other attorneys in the firm, go over the information they have gathered and decide if the firm will represent the Finks family in any possible civil suit, McMurray said.

The officer has received death threats since the shooting occurred, including a call to his home threatening his life, Lt. Art Redcay, a police spokesman, said. Because of the threats, police have refused to release the officer's name, which is normally released 48 hours after shootings.

A Clark County coroner's inquest set for later this month will rule if the officer's actions were justified, criminal or excusable.

But the conflicting statements the 15-year-old passenger gave to police and then to the family has Sherry Finks, Billy Finks' mother, saying the police may have intimidated the teen.

"There were only three people who were there, my son, (the 15-year-old passenger) and the police officer, and the officers questioned the kid and scared him," she said. "They are putting words in his mouth."

The deadly encounter started when a man on a bicycle rode up to officers at Cheyenne High School and said a driver of a brown car that just pulled into the parking lot ran him off the road. The officers, who were at the school on a tip of possible gang activity, checked the car and found it was reported stolen.

The car pulled out of the parking lot about 8:40 a.m. Feb. 27, and an officer broadcast a description of the car, which was stolen. Police said the 23-year-old officer followed the car until Finks stopped on Roberta Lane, a dead-end street off Decatur Boulevard.

The officer ordered the teens to stay in the car, but the pair got out, police said.

The officer saw a gun in Finks' hand and ordered him to drop it. When he didn't, the officer fired two shots, one hitting the teen in the chest, police said.

Finks said her son didn't know the car was stolen. A teen he knew was letting people use a car he had, and Billy Finks was borrowing it, she said.

"They are trying to make him out like he was a bad kid," she said. "He wasn't. We want justice for him. I'll let the lawyers do what they do, but I just want justice."