Medication cited in murder hearing

Kim Smith

Thursday, Oct. 10, 2002 | 9:55 a.m.

Attorneys for a Las Vegas man accused of beating a man to death with bricks are asking that his statement to police be tossed out as evidence.

According to a motion filed in District Court Friday, Usman Sadiq was on pain medications when he admitted to Metro Police Detective Ken Hardy that he was the only person who fought with the victims and that he remembered having a brick in his hand.

Deputy Special Public Defender Alzora Jackson said that at the time Sadiq was taken in for questioning in the death of Kristopher Gregory, he was under the influence of Motrin and Darvocet.

Sadiq's mother practically had to carry him from his room to the living room to meet with detectives, Jackson said.

"These factors would indeed have a profound effect on this 19-year-old's thought process and his ability to articulate his own thoughts, as opposed to being vulnerable to the power of suggestion," Jackson wrote in the motion. "This young man also has no prior exposure to the criminal justice system."

Chief Deputy District Attorney Robert Daskas has not yet formally responded to the motion. He did say, however, that he believes detectives acted appropriately in speaking with Sadiq.

"I'm confident the detectives would not have interviewed him if they believed he was under the influence of prescription drugs or anything else. They are trained to recognize those things," Daskas said.

According to police, Gregory, 21, was beaten to death with cinder blocks on Jan. 7 after the Gale Insulation truck he was driving crashed through a wall at the Sundance Village Apartments near Rainbow and Charleston boulevards.

Jesse Covington, 24, a friend of Gregory, was also severely beaten but was released from the hospital after three weeks.

Authorities believe Gregory and Covington got into a brief dispute with a group of people in the parking lot of the apartment complex. The group walked away as Gregory drove eastbound through the parking lot.

Inexplicably, Gregory's truck suddenly ended up turning 90 degrees, slamming through a wall and striking a friend of Sadiq and possibly Sadiq himself.