Thursday, Dec. 18, 2003 | 9:43 a.m.
Jurors on Wednesday determined that the Las Vegas man who killed his girlfriend and after his conviction assaulted a Clark County prosecutor should spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Jurors sentenced Taiwan Allen, 29, to life in prison without parole in the April death of 30-year-old Yashoma Clemons after a penalty hearing before District Judge Donald Mosley.
The same jurors on Monday convicted Allen of first-degree murder in the slaying. Moments after the guilty verdict was read, Allen attacked Deputy District Attorney David Stanton, striking him in the back of the head. Stanton was treated at University Medical Center and released following the attack.
The district attorney's office had decided before the trial not to seek the death penalty against Allen.
Allen on Wednesday showed little reaction to the sentence. He shook the hand of his attorney, Frederick Santacroce, before leaving the courtroom flanked by three bailiffs.
District Attorney David Roger said prosecutors have charged Allen with a single count of battery by a prisoner stemming from the attack on Stanton. Roger stood in for Stanton during Tuesday's hearing.
"Obviously we'll have to evaluate the necessity of proceeding with the prosecution on that case," he said.
Santacroce during the trial had argued that Allen shot Clemons in a gun battle in which Allen was also shot. He called the jury's sentence "harsh."
"I think it was very harsh considering the defenses we raised," he said. "We will be filing an appeal."
Chief Deputy District Attorney Vickie Monroe, who had tried the case with Stanton, said she was pleased with the jury's decision.
"We felt this was appropriate in light of his prior history of violence," Monroe said.
Stanton has returned to work but did not attend Wednesday's hearing. He did not immediately return calls for comment.
Monroe said she believed testimony detailing Allen's violent behavior toward Clemons and his ex-wife, Monique, played a major role in the jurors' sentence.
Monique Allen told jurors that Allen struck her on several occasions during their two-year marriage and that he had attacked her while she was six months pregnant.
Monroe added that Allen's attack on Stanton likely influenced jurors' decision as well.
"Certainly they had to digest that. A man goes out of control in the courtroom and attacks a prosecutor, they certainly had to consider that."
Jurors did not want to talk to reporters following the verdict.
Prosecutors said Allen gunned Clemons down in a jealous rage after Clemons told him she wanted to reunite with her ex-husband. Clemons was shot once in the chest and twice in the head.
Clemons' four children, 15 months to 9 years old, remained in the house with their mother's body for five days before they were discovered.
Lodia Fluellen, Clemons' grandmother, said the children were also victims in the case.
The children are now separated, living with their respective fathers, three in Detroit and the oldest in Lansing, Mich., she said.
"(Allen) left my four great grandbabies in a house by themselves to fend for themselves," Fluellen said, crying. "This has affected them greatly."
Fluellen said she had tried to warn Clemons that Allen was not the type of man she should be involved with.
"I saw ahead," she said. "I said, 'Yashoma, he's not the one for you.' But she didn't listen."
Fluellen said she had just walked into the courtroom on Monday when she witnessed Allen attack Stanton. She said the attack was only the latest display of Allen's violent temper.
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