Briefs for Jan. 28, 2003

Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2003 | 10:20 a.m.

CAT bus kills pedestrian, 76

A pedestrian was killed Monday when a Citizens Area Transit bus ran a red light at Desert Inn and Pecos roads, Metro Police said.

Warren Sherar, 76, of Las Vegas was struck while crossing Pecos about 11:20 a.m. The bus, traveling on Desert Inn, hit a car going north on Pecos and another going west on Desert Inn, police said.

James Logan, 68, the bus driver, told police the brakes on the bus failed, but the brakes were checked and were in good working condition, police said. Logan was cited.

Injured pedestrian called jaywalker

A 53-year-old Las Vegas man was in critical condition after being hit by a car while walking across Desert Inn Road near Nellis Boulevard about 12:30 a.m. this morning.

Metro Police said Ronald Barncord was attempting to cross Desert Inn Road about 140 feet south of the crosswalk when he was struck by a 2002 Hyundai.

Probation given in woman's death

One of six local men charged in the slaying of a North Las Vegas woman as she attended her sister's wake was sentenced Monday in District Court.

Jamon Brooks, 23, had pleaded no contest to one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the 2001 drive-by shooting death of Gwendolyn Jones, 35.

District Judge Sally Loehrer sentenced Brooks to a minimum of two years and a maximum of 96 months in prison, but she suspended the sentence and placed Brooks on probation for five years.

Brooks was also ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Ed Kane alleged Brooks was not the shooter, but said an eyewitness allegedly saw and heard Brooks on a cell phone telling co-defendant Joey Clark where the victim was before the shooting.

Clark is scheduled to go to trial March 23.

State to get piece of drug settlement

Nevada will receive about $224,000 from a proposed $80 million settlement among all 50 states and some drug manufacturers, the state attorney general said.

The states filed lawsuits against Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc., Andrx Corp. and affiliated entities, charging that there was an agreement not to market a less expensive generic version of the heart medication Cardizem CD.

The suit said the delay in marketing the drug resulted in higher prices for consumers and governmental agencies.

The proposed settlement, filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Monday, was in addition to a $110 million settlement reached earlier between the companies and drug wholesalers involving the same allegations.

Appeal rejected in LV murder case

The Nevada Supreme Court Monday rejected the appeal of Steven Sanchez, who maintained his attorney was ineffective in the trial in which he was convicted of fatally beating to death a man with a rock after arguments over drugs.

Sanchez, convicted of first-degree murder in Las Vegas, said in his appeal there were five instances of ineffective assistance of his attorney at trial. But the court said Sanchez failed to show his counsel was ineffective.

He was sentenced to a term ranging from 43 years to more than 100 years in prison for the 1997 death of Alfonzo Marquez.

Workshops set on radiation threat

Mesquite will host a series of public workshops designed to inform and educate residents about the nature of radiation and its potential effects to Nevadans, Mesquite Mayor Charles Horne said.

The Energy Department has proposed to build and operate a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Mesquite is about 70 miles northeast of Las Vegas on Interstate 15.

"Because shipments may start in as few as seven years, we need to plan for appropriate measures and educate the public on the adverse effects a nuclear waste repository may have in our communities," Horne said.

Anthony Hechanova, a research scientist in nuclear engineering for the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, developed a course on radioactive materials.

The first session is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the Mesquite City Hall Council Chambers.

Victim's mother fights killer's parole

A mother whose daughter was stabbed to death in Las Vegas said she was "disgusted" Monday after the state Parole Board denied parole for the killer, but only for two years.

Carol Nicoletti said she thought the board should have denied parole for Simon Macias for at least five years.

Macias pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in 1993 in the stabbing death of his 19-year-old wife, Susan Figeley Macias, whose body was wrapped in duct tape and dumped in the desert near Henderson. He was sentenced to life in prison.