News briefs for Dec. 19, 2002

Thursday, Dec. 19, 2002 | 11:23 a.m.

Two wounded in drive-by shooting

Metro Police are investigating a possible gang-related shooting that left two teenagers injured Wednesday morning.

Someone from an office at 2881 S. Valley View Blvd. called police about 11 a.m. and reported hearing seven gunshots outside. The caller also told police that five or six juveniles were running south on Valley View toward Pennwood Avenue.

Police said two juveniles were driving a red car on Valley View, flashed a gang sign to the two victims and then started firing.

UMC spokesman Rick Plummer said a 16-year-old boy was brought into the emergency room about 12:30 p.m. with a gunshot wound in his chest that was not life-threatening. Plummer said a 19-year-old man was also treated for gunshot wounds in his leg, hand and arm and was released.

There were 67 reported drive-by shootings and 129 victims of drive-by shootings last year, according to Metro. From January to March of this year, there were 22 reported drive-by shootings.

Smokers lose bid for tobacco funds

A federal appeals court has rejected the claims of five Nevada smokers who argued that they are entitled to share in the state's $1.2 billion 1999 financial settlement with tobacco manufacturers.

The five people said they suffered from smoking related illness and received care under the state's Medicaid program.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Wednesday that those claims are not allowed under a prior decision from Hawaii. It said federal law allows the state to use the money for anything it thinks appropriate.

Nevada uses its share of the tobacco settlement -- which is being paid over 25 years -- for Millennium Scholarships and other programs.

New penalty hearing ordered in killing

The Nevada Supreme Court Wednesday ordered a new penalty hearing for a man sentenced to death in the fatal shooting of an Air Force sergeant who was moonlighting as a clerk at a convenience store in Las Vegas.

The court, in a 4-3 decision, said one of the aggravating circumstances found by the jury was invalid. Wilbert E. Leslie was convicted of burglary, robbery and first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of William Prewitt in August 1994.

The jury found one of the aggravating circumstances to merit the death penalty was that the killing was "at random and without apparent motive."

Justice Bob Rose, writing in the majority opinion, said a witness testified that Leslie killed the clerk because he would not give up the money. Rose wrote that there is another possible reason for the killing -- to stop the clerk from identifying him to police.

Rose wrote: "We conclude that the 'at random and without apparent motive' aggravator is misapplied to situations where the defendant unnecessarily kills another person in the course of a robbery, and we depart from our prior interpretation of it."

McLaughlin gets confidence vote

Jack McLaughlin, the state superintendent of public instruction, has gained a vote of confidence from the state Board of Education.

Board President David Sheffeld said McLaughlin "has made significant progress in elevating Nevada's public education system. McLaughlin has been on the job for two years.

At a Dec. 14 meeting in Las Vegas, the board did its annual evaluation of McLaughlin and praised what they said was a skillful push for improvements in education.