Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Lawyers want case back in Juvenile Court

Several attorneys representing nine teenagers charged with seriously injuring a 17-year-old say they plan to file motions asking that the case be sent to Juvenile Court.

The attorneys say they will challenge a Clark County judge's authority to hear the case. They believe the teens should not be tried as adults in the attack that injured Stephen Tanner Hansen.

In Nevada children 8 and older charged with serious crimes, including murder and attempted murder, can be prosecuted in the adult system. Teens 16 and older are eligible for the death penalty.

Ernest Bradley Aguilar, 17; Steven Gazlay, 18; Jeff Hart, 17; Anthony Gallion, 16; Mathew Costello, 17; Christopher Farley, 18; Dominic Harriman, 19; and Scott Morse, 18, were arraigned Tuesday in District Court on 13 felony counts, including attempted murder, in the attack on Hansen. Brandon Gallion, 16, was not arraigned.

Authorities say a gang of suburban youths called the 311 Boyz was behind the July 18 attack and other violent incidents.

During the hearing several defense attorneys told District Judge Michael Cherry that they planned to challenge the court's jurisdiction to hear the case.

Defense attorney Thomas Pitaro, who represents Aguilar, said he planned to file motions requesting that his client's case be remanded to the juvenile system.

"I will be filing a writ attacking the jurisdiction of this court and the manner in which the state filed these charges," he said.

He also objected to the media being in the courtroom, noting that reporters and cameras would be excluded in the juvenile system.

"It's improper and I don't care what the other people do, but (the cameras) shouldn't be here," he said. "Throwing these rules out just because someone decided this should be a high-publicity event is offensive."

He then walked to Aguilar and stood between Aguilar and the cameras until Aguilar was dismissed from the courtroom.

Costello's attorney, Daniel Albregts, said he also planned to challenge the District Court's jurisdiction.

"I plan to file every motion that I think should be filed as it relates to the lack of evidence to charge my client with attempted murder and whether the case should have remained in Juvenile Court where it initially was," he said.

Albregts said there is no evidence to prove his client was involved in the alleged attempted murder, which resulted in the adult certification.

"The Juvenile Court is the court that should have jurisdiction," he said.

While the other teens entered not guilty pleas, Aguilar and Costello declined to enter a plea until after a motion asking the case be sent back to Juvenile Court was heard.

Cherry entered not guilty pleas on their behalf.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent said defense attorneys must prove there was insufficient evidence with regard to the attempted murder charge to get the case remanded to Juvenile Court.

A Clark County grand jury indicted the teens on the attempted murder charge and other charges after several eyewitnesses linked the teens to the crime.

Laurent said he is confident the charges will be upheld.

"My position is that we presented sufficient evidence to the grand jury to establish that an attempted murder was committed and that the defendants committed the crime," he said.

Defense attorneys have 21 days from Tuesday to file their motions challenging the charges, Laurent said. He said he would file a response at that time.

The nine teens charged in the attack on Hansen join several other teenagers awaiting trial in the adult system in Clark County.

Monique Maestas, 17, and her 19-year-old brother, Beau, face murder and attempted murder charges in the stabbing attack that killed 3-year-old Krystianna Cowan and left her sister, Brittney Bergeron, 10, paralyzed.

Mark Ford, 15, is charged with murder in the death of 56-year-old Vincent Gomes. Authorities say Ford broke in the home intending burglarize it and attacked Gomes with a knife when he discovered him home.

Judge Bill Dressel, of the National Judicial College in Reno, said the cases are indicative of a national trend regarding juveniles in the court system. In jurisdictions across the country, he said, it is not unusual to see children charged as adults.

"In the last five years you've seen more of this," he said. "This is becoming something not only in Nevada but nationwide that prosecutors are pursuing adult charges against juveniles, especially in cases involving violence or deadly weapons."

Like the 311 Boyz case, many cases involving juveniles stem from an increase in gang violence, he said.

"These young people are committing crimes not only among each other but also relating to other people outside of the gang," he said.

Prosecutors say the teens charged in the attack on Hansen surrounded Hansen and two of his friends in a gated community in Summerlin. Hansen was injured when someone threw a rock through the window of the truck in which he was riding and the rock crushed the left side of Hansen's face.

Police say the teens are also responsible for a string of other violent acts in northwest Las Vegas, many of which were videotaped.

Albregts said his client was initially charged with battery causing substantial bodily harm in Juvenile Court relating to the attack on Hansen but the case was later transferred to District Court.

Costello had been released from juvenile custody on his own recognizance and was scheduled to stand trial when he was rearrested on the adult charges, Albregts said.

"He was doing everything he was supposed to do in Juvenile Court," he said.

Defense attorney James "Bucky" Buchanan, who represents Gazlay, said the teens were certified as adults only because prosecutors had overcharged the case.

He said he also plans to challenge the indictment charging the teens, as well as the grand jury proceedings that resulted in the charges.

"This indictment is so flawed and the grand jury proceeding was so shoddy that it can't stand," he said.

Defense attorneys will have to argue their motions challenging the court's jurisdiction before Cherry, who will decide whether the case will remain in District Court, said District Judge Stewart Bell, judicial spokesman for the case.

If Cherry overrules the motion, the attorneys will have to take the matter up with the Nevada Supreme Court on appeal, he said.

"The decision by Judge Cherry would be final," he said. "But everything is subject to later review by the Supreme Court."

In cases in which teens are charged with less serious crimes, such as battery, it is up to a juvenile judge to determine whether the teen will be certified as an adult, Bell said.

At that time, the judge must apply objective standards, such as "the seriousness of the offense, the age of the defendant, the defendant's prior record," he said.

Brandon Gallion and Hart also face battery charges in a separate case in Juvenile Court, along with Kyle Hadley, Chad Cladderbuck, Thomas Geick and Joseph Trujillo.

Those teens were charged with two felony counts of battery causing substantial bodily harm in a July 3 fight that injured two other teens. That brawl was also videotaped.

Hart also faces juvenile charges in a March home invasion robbery. A local man claims Hart locked him in a closet while he robbed him. That man identified Hart in a lineup after seeing his picture in a newspaper article.

Hart and Gallion could also be certified as adults in those cases, prosecutors say. Hart is scheduled to go before Family Court Judge Diane Steel on Sept. 22.

As it relates to the attempted murder charges, Bell said, it is not up to a juvenile judge to make the decision regarding certification.

"Murder or attempted murder, there is no decision making at all," he said. "You're automatically charged as an adult. That's just the way it is by law."

Juvenile prosecutor Bob Teuton said the state law that allows children to be tried as adults has been in place since 1977.

Speaking during a Monday appearance on "Face to Face With John Ralston," Teuton said the law will likely send a message to juvenile offenders.

"Does the law push people or pull people?" he asked. "I think the law here is going to pull people away from engaging in this type of behavior."

Teuton said Nevada, unlike other states, does not have the money to fund costly programs for juvenile offenders.

Some states also have blended systems, which allow criminal adult sentences to be imposed while allowing children to work toward rehabilitation, he said.

"Absent that, we have to decide how to protect society -- not only in this instance but in the long run," he said.

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