Boy, 15, indicted in fatal stabbing

Erica D. Johnson

Monday, March 10, 2003 | 9:14 a.m.

A 15-year-old boy arrested after a deadly stabbing attack in a northwest Las Vegas neighborhood was formally indicted by a grand jury Friday.

Mark Ford was scheduled to face a preliminary hearing this morning before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Karen Bennett-Haron to determine whether he will face trial in the stabbing.

But the indictment unsealed before District Judge Gene Porter means the case will go directly to District Court without a preliminary hearing.

The indictment charges Ford with one count of murder with a deadly weapon and one count of burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon in the Feb. 24 killing of Vincent Gomes.

Prosecutors added an additional count of home invasion, Deputy District Attorney James Sweetin said.

After the crime, however, police said the case was not a home invasion because the intruder did not know Gomes was home and he did not have to force his way in.

Sweetin did not give reasons for the apparent discrepancy in the interpretations of the law.

Ford is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday before District Judge Joseph Bonaventure.

Ford faces a life sentence with or without parole, Sweetin said. Nevada law does not allow a death sentence for offenses committed by people who are younger than 15.

Ford is being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail, and prosecutors said they want to make sure he stays there.

"Based on his history and the nature of the crime, I'd submit that he's a great threat to the community as well as a flight risk," Sweetin said.

Deputy Special Public Defender Curtis Brown declined to comment on the case.

Police say Ford broke into the home in the Wellington Park gated community near Grand Canyon Drive and Sahara Avenue intending to rob it and attacked Gomes, 53, when he discovered him home.

Gomes called 911 saying someone had broken into his home and was stabbing him. Ford, a former resident of Gomes' neighborhood, was arrested a few hours later.

Sweetin said the knife attack was brutal. The boy's fingerprints were also found in the home, he said.

Prosecutors took the case to the grand jury because it would be the "quickest, most efficient way," he said.

While jurors can choose to convict Ford on the home invasion charge and the robbery charge, he can only be sentenced on one, Sweetin said.