Court briefs for August 2, 2002

Friday, Aug. 2, 2002 | 9:03 a.m.

Two life terms given in killing

One of six men accused of shooting a rival gang member to death last year was given two consecutive life terms Thursday.

Lailoni Morrison, 22, will have to serve at least 20 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Morrison was sentenced in connection with the March 2001 shooting of Joseph "Doughboy" Williams, 26. Two other men have also been convicted in the slaying, but charges against three other men were dismissed due to lack of evidence.

Anthony "Wacky G" Gantt received a 20-year to life sentence and Ashley "Face" Bennet, 28, received two no-parole life terms.

Gantt, 17, told jurors during Morrison's trial that he, Morrison, Bennett, and three others fired on Williams because he was a member of a rival gang.

Williams was struck 16 times.

Bigamy adds time to killer's sentence

A Las Vegas woman serving a life sentence for beating her 5-year-old stepdaughter to death pleaded guilty Thursday to bigamy and was sentenced to a concurrent prison term of 12 to 30 months.

Prosecutors alleged Martha Flores was already married when she moved to the United States from Mexico while pregnant and married Roberto Flores in an effort to get medical insurance.

Zoraida Flores was beaten to death months later and Martha Flores was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison in February.

Martha Flores' own 5-year-old daughter, Sylvia, told police her mother struck Zoraida in the head after the girl urinated on herself and refused to take a shower.

The woman insisted all along that Roberto Flores killed his daughter.

20-year sentence given in slaying

A 61-year-old Las Vegas man accused of shooting a neighbor to death last year in a dispute over his yard sales was sentenced to five to 20 years in prison Thursday.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure sentenced David Earl Reed under the terms of a plea agreement worked out between Reed's attorneys and prosecutors in May.

Reed pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter with use of a deadly weapon rather than face a trial that could have resulted in a first- or second-degree murder conviction.

Reed could have received as much as life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of first-degree murder.

Reed told police he shot 59-year-old Gene Cattaneo on Thanksgiving Day in self-defense after Cattaneo photographed the yard sale in front of Reed's house and then attacked him with a golf club.

According to grand jury transcripts, however, at least one neighbor said both of Cattaneo's hands were on his camera when Reed walked across the street clutching a handgun.