Teen in 311 Boyz case released early

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Friday, Dec. 17, 2004 | 11:02 a.m.

An alleged member of the 311 Boyz gang, who pleaded guilty to charges related to the July 2003 stoning that left 17-year-old Stephen Tanner Hansen with a crushed face, was released from jail and placed under house arrest on Thursday by District Judge Michael Cherry.

On Aug. 6 Cherry had sentenced 18-year-old Matthew Costello to a year in the Clark County Detention Center. Costello had pleaded guilty to one felony count of battery with use of a deadly weapon in exchange for prosecutors dropping all other charges against him, including attempted murder.

Costello's attorney Daniel Albregts said his client "had been a model inmate" who suffered no disciplinary infractions during his four months of incarceration. Albregts said Costello had even helped a fellow inmate get his GED.

Costello's mother, Lorraine Costello, asked Cherry to release her son from jail, saying she'd "like to try and help Matt get on with his life and be a productive member of society."

After hearing from Matthew Costello's parents, Cherry read aloud a letter written to him by the teen. In it Costello said he sees "no need for violence" anymore in life. He said his crime had forced him "to stop talking to his friends because they wouldn't change."

Costello also said he plans to attend UNLV because his goal now is "to become a lawyer."

Costello stood in chains wearing his orange prison clothes amongst other defendants awaiting hearings of their own as Cherry continued to read the letter in which Costello had written: "I don't want to grow up around the people I'm incarcerated with."

Cherry told Costello, "Today is your lucky day," and ordered him released into house arrest. The teen's family and friends gasped and sighed in apparent surprise and relief.

Costello is now to serve one year under house arrest and then three years of probation.

"If you (Costello) succeed I am a success; if you fail I fail," Cherry told him.

But for Stephen Tanner Hansen, who will have to continue to undergo multiple reconstructive surgeries to repair his face, Cherry's decision was anything but a success.

Hansen's attorney, Jerome Bowen, said the Hansen family was "very upset about" Costello's release from jail. He said Cherry's decision "didn't change anything, because he (Costello) has already ruined a life."

Bowen said the Hansens were particularly appalled by the fact that though Costello apologized to the court for his actions he "has never apologized to" Stephen Tanner Hansen.

While Cherry showed leniency to Costello, he ruled against changing the terms of Christopher Farley's one-year sentence at the Clark County Detention Center.

Cherry noted that Farley had admitted that he was one of the people who threw rocks at the truck that Hansen had been in, and Cherry asked Farley's lawyer, "What did you think, (that) I was Mr. Liberal who would let him walk out of here?"

Cherry said he "was not ready to do anything" with Farley and would re-consider Farley's fate in 90-days.

Costello, Farley, Steven Gazlay, 19, and Jeff Hart, 18, were the only four alleged members of the 311 Boyz gang to receive jail time from Cherry. When they get out, they are to serve another year on house arrest and three more on probation.

Cherry sentenced the youngest of the group, 17-year-old Brandon Gallion, to one year of house arrest and four years of regular probation.

The five, along with 17-year-old Ernest Aguilar, 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.

Scott Morse, the only alleged member of the 311 Boyz to go to trial in connection with the attack on Hansen, was acquitted on all charges.