Gazlay sentencing hearing postponed

Erica D. Johnson

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2004 | 10:16 a.m.

A district judge on Tuesday postponed a sentencing hearing for an alleged 311 Boyz gang member convicted on Dec. 15 of attacking two young men with a crowbar.

Steven Gazlay, 19, was supposed to have been sentenced Tuesday on one count each of battery with a deadly weapon and assault with a deadly weapon, but District Judge Valerie Adair postponed the sentencing to March 30 after Department of Parole and Probation officials said they needed more time to prepare a pre-sentencing report.

The report, which details the defendant's criminal and social history, is compiled after officials interview the defendant.

Gazlay's attorney, Luis Palazzo, also said he needed time to review the case file, which was recently handed over to him by Gazlay's former attorney, James "Bucky" Buchanan. Palazzo asked for 90 days to review the file, but Adair denied that request.

Gazlay, who is out of custody pending the sentencing, faces two to 10 years in prison. He also will be eligible for probation.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent said it was too soon to tell if Gazlay would serve prison time.

"We will argue that this should be treated with a prison sentence," he said. "But that's why we have judges."

Gazlay also still has trials pending in two separate cases in Clark County. He and eight other teens, also alleged to be members of the 311 Boyz gang, face 12 felony charges, including attempted murder, stemming from an alleged attack on Stephen Tanner Hansen, 17, with a rock. He also faces charges of allegedly burning a teen with a hot butter knife during a house party in May.

Gazlay was convicted of using a crow bar to attack a man. Prosecutors said he attacked Sean Quinn, 21, at a desert area known as "the basin" near the Las Vegas Beltway and Centennial Parkway, where nearly 200 teens had gathered.

They said Gazlay also lunged at Quinn's friend, James Sarlo, with the weapon when Sarlo jumped in to help Quinn. Both Quinn and Sarlo testified during the trial and identified Gazlay as their attacker.

Buchanan argued during the trial that a melee had broken out and that violent fights had occurred between multiple partygoers. He said there was no way to ensure that Gazlay was the person who caused the damage.