Man convicted in killing of four will get new trial

Monday, Dec. 27, 2004 | 9:19 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A 24-year-old inmate, sentenced to life in prison without parole for his part in the killing of four men in Clark County, is going to get a new trial because he could not get along with his trial attorney.

The Nevada Supreme Court Thursday said there was animosity and a lack of communication between accused killer Terrell Cochise Young and his court-appointed lawyer Lew Wolfbrandt at the 1999 trial.

Young made several motions to replace Wolfbrandt, but they were denied by District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski. Young complained that Wolfbrandt failed to see him in jail for eight months.

Wolfbrandt told Pavlikowski he was preparing the case. Though the judge ordered Wolfbrandt to visit Young at least once a week until the trial, Young complained that Wolfbrandt visited him only once after the judge's order.

Young made at least five motions to have a new attorney appointed, but Pavlikowski denied them all.

The Supreme Court said Pavlikowski failed to "explore the degree to which the lack of communication and animosity between Young and his counsel had prevented his counsel from adequately preparing for trial."

Young and Sikia Smith, now 23, were sentenced to life in prison for the shootings of Matthew Mowen, 19, Tracy Gorringe, 20, Jeffrey Biddle, 19, and Peter Talamantez, 17, in a house rented by the victims on Terra Linda Avenue in southeastern Las Vegas on Aug. 14, 1998.

Donte Johnson, now 24, was sentenced to death by a three-judge panel for being the triggerman in the killing. The panel of judges determined the sentence after a jury could not decide on the punishment. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that juries, not three-judge panels, must hand down the penalties. The Nevada Supreme Court ordered a new penalty hearing for Johnson, but he is still in prison on other charges.