Four get year in jail

Christina Littlefield and Lynn Doan

Friday, Aug. 6, 2004 | 11:16 a.m.

Four alleged members of the 311 Boyz gang this morning were sentenced to a year in jail and a year of house arrest in the July 2003 rock attack that left 18-year-old Stephen Tanner Hansen disfigured.

District Judge Michael Cherry called the attack a "hate crime" as he handed down the sentences to Steven Gazlay, 19, Christopher Farley, 19, Jeff Hart, 18, and Matthew Costello, 18. Brandon Gallion, 17, was given a year of house arrest and four years' probation.

They and Ernest Aguilar, 17, did not admit guilt to the charges of attempted murder, battery and coercion, but agreed prosecutors could prove their case at trial. Aguilar had already been sentenced to probation.

The four given jail sentences will also serve a year of house arrest and then three years of probation.

The teens will have their jail sentences reduced for time they spent in jail after their arrests.

After the sentences were announced, Gazlay's mother, Jeanette, cried out, "Oh God, not again."

As Gazlay, whom prosecutors identified as the ringleader, was handcuffed to be taken from the courtroom, she looked at him and said, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."

He'll serve 325 days in jail.

A member of Costello's family said, "This is a travesty. I have to leave."

Gallion embraced his mother in the hallway outside after the sentencing as she sobbed.

Cherry said as he sentenced Gazlay first, "I think he was the ringleader, and I don't see any remorse on his part, and that is very sad."

Farley, who will serve 357 days in jail, was also given four years' additional probation, and could serve an extra two to 15 years if he breaks his probation.

Hart will serve 309 days in jail, and Costello will serve 362 days.

All but Gazlay admitted their roles in the attack and said that they had learned from their experiences and turned their lives around, as their attorneys sought probation.

Hansen addressed the court this morning and said: "I'm all for giving people second chances when I know they feel bad for it. But I think they are only sorry because they got caught.

"I don't feel any remorse from them."

Gazlay apologized to Hansen's family for all of the pain and suffering that they went through as a result of that night. He said that he had never intended to conspire to hurt anyone and he denied he was responsible for a crowbar attack on Sean Quinn.

Cherry acknowledged that Gazlay was not among those who threw rocks at the truck Hansen was riding in nor did he physically attack Hansen or his friend, Craig LeFevre, who was driving.

But Cherry said he thought Gazlay "started the whole thing."

Aguilar has already been sentenced to probation for up to three years, his attorney Thomas Pitaro said.

"You guys don't understand what you did," LeFevre told the defendants this morning.

"I'm a forgiving guy. Tanner is my best friend," LeFevre said. "But it's the worst thing that I've ever seen. This is just too much. We didn't deserve this all."

Hansen said he could have died that night. "I look at those kids as murderers because a quarter-inch down or a quarter-inch up, or if I hadn't taken my arm and shattered it to save my life, I would have died."

He addressed each of the defendants separately, responding to the arguments their attorneys made one by one.

"I have a hard time forgiving you because I'm never going to get a second chance," he told Gallion.

Hansen told Gazlay, "I have seen you off camera, and I know what you're like."

To the court, he said, "I know personally that he was the ringleader of it, because it was his girlfriend I was talking to. I apologized for talking to your girlfriend, but that doesn't merit taking my life."

Attorneys for all five asked Cherry to give them probation, citing their clean records since their arrests.

"I'm not a bad person," Gallion said. "I just made a bad choice. I just want a chance. I just want a chance, please."

Hart, since his arrest, has earned his high school equivalency diploma and is employed full-time as a plumber's apprentice, his attorney Sean Sullivan said.

"Obviously this has altered his life as well as the victim's," Sullivan said Thursday.

The teens were arrested on charges of throwing rocks at Hansen as he tried to leave a party he attended with Jennifer Hopkins, Gazlay's ex-girlfriend.

The truck LeFevre was driving was surrounded by teenagers, and while backing up to get out, the truck hit a Jeep, then pulled forward and hit a young man who was at the party before speeding off.

Gallion and his co-defendants said they were angered by the truck hitting their friend and cited the high emotions of the moment as reasons they attacked Hansen and LeFevre.

Hansen had to undergo two surgeries to rebuild his crushed face and another surgery for injuries to his arm.

Gallion acknowledged that there was a mob mentality the night of the attack, but each of the teens denied being a member of the 311 Boyz gang.

The only alleged member of the 311 Boyz to go to trial before a Clark County jury, 19-year-old Scott Morse, was acquitted of all charges in June.

Dominic Harriman, 20, another alleged member, entered a plea agreement to a charge of conspiracy to commit coercion in connection with the Hansen attack. He must pay a $2,000 fine and stay out of trouble for a year to avoid further punishment.

Charges of attempted murder against Anthony Gallion, 16, were dismissed May 18.