High court rejects appeal of gang member who killed teen

Thursday, April 15, 2004 | 8:22 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the petition of a Las Vegas gang member convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of a 13-year-old boy.

The court dismissed the arguments of Jerry Lara that his attorneys at trial and on his first appeal to the Supreme Court were ineffective and failed to represent him properly.

Lara, who was reported to be a member of the "18th Street Gang," was accused of shooting several times into a car that carried Alex Arroyo in October 1996 near Rancho and Vegas drives. The boy was struck in the neck by one of the bullets as he crouched down in the car to avoid injury.

The court said the motive appeared to be "turf protection."

Lara was sentenced to two consecutive life terms with the possibility of parole after 40 years.

The prosecution said the victim was not a gang member but merely a passenger in the car of Eduardo Sonera.

In his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, Lara says his trial attorney was ineffective for failing to properly object to evidence that Lara was a gang member and that witnesses gave inaccurate information to police because they feared retaliation from gang members.

The court said: "Here, the state properly offered evidence of Lara's gang affiliation to demonstrate a motive for the shooting and to explain the bias or fear of several witnesses."

Witnesses Angel Arroyo and Jonathan Episioco identified Lara at the trial as the shooter. They had initially given inconsistent statements to police about the shooter's identity. They later said that was because they feared retaliation from Lara's gang associates.

The defense had presented witnesses that Lara was at a home at the time of the shooting.

The court said Leo Flangas, the defense attorney at trial, screened potential jurors on the issue of gang membership. It said the attorney also was able to impeach prosecution witnesses based on their inconsistent statements made to police during the investigation.

"Trial and appeal lawyers provided effective assistance at all stages of the trial and on appeal," the court wrote.

In other decisions:

Collins, in his appeal, claimed his lawyer made more than 20 errors in handling his defense at the trial. Among the allegations by Collins was that his lawyer failed to investigate the criminal history of the woman.

The court rejected each of the claims of inadequate defense.

Furbay, convicted in 1998, claimed that his right to a speedy trial was denied and that resulted in the loss of several defense witness; that he was denied his right to represent himself; and that there was insufficient evidence at trial to support his robbery and murder conviction.