Defense suffers setback as judge lets all charges stand

Erica D. Johnson

Monday, Jan. 12, 2004 | 8:41 a.m.

Alleged members of the 311 Boyz gang will stand trial on multiple felony charges relating to an attack on a Las Vegas teen, after a judge on Friday refused to dismiss charges filed against them.

District Judge Michael Cherry said he believed prosecutors had met their burden of proof when they charged nine teens in the rock attack that maimed 17-year-old Stephen Tanner Hansen.

During the past few months, defense attorneys had argued that the teens should not be tried as adults in the attack. Some attorneys said their clients were not even present when the rock was thrown.

The attorneys maintained that indictments charging the teens relied too heavily on a conspiracy theory propagated by Chief Deputy District Christopher Laurent. They said it did not take into consideration the facts of the case or the specific actions of each defendant.

Cherry said he and his law clerk had pored over each page of the grand jury transcripts in the case to be sure he rendered a fair ruling.

"I wanted to give everybody the benefit of whatever doubt I could," he said.

Cherry said he concluded that "the grand jury was appropriate in returning the 12 counts against the nine defendants. The case will go to trial."

The grand jury had indicted each of the teens on 12 felony counts, which include coercion and attempted murder, last September.

Laurent said the state now would concentrate on preparing the case for a jury trial, which is scheduled for May 24.

"We still have to prove these cases beyond a reasonable doubt," he said. "That's what we're working on now."

About 97 percent of cases in Clark County courts are negotiated with plea deals, but there are no such offers on the table for the nine defendants, Laurent said.

"There is always a possibility of negotiations," he said. "But there's nothing in the works right now."

Hansen's face was crushed when someone in a group of teens threw a 5-pound rock through the window of a truck he was riding in. He has had to undergo several reconstructive surgeries.

Hansen's friends, Joe Grill and Craig Lefevre, were in the truck with Hansen when the attack occurred but were not seriously injured.

Police say members of the 311 Boyz, a gang made up of teens from middle class and upper-middle class homes in northwest Las Vegas, were behind the attack.

Laurent maintained the teens acted as a mob and used force to first detain the truck Hansen was in, then chased it and pummeled it with rocks.

The teens charged are Ernest Bradley Aguilar, 17; Steven Gazlay, 19; Jeff Hart, 18; 16-year-old twins Anthony and Brandon Gallion; Mathew Costello, 17; Christopher Farley, 18; Dominic Harriman, 19; and Scott Morse, 18.

In Nevada, children 8 and older who are charged with serious violent crimes such as murder and attempted murder are automatically transferred to the adult system.

Had the attempted murder charge been tossed out, the teens' case would have been remanded to Juvenile Court. That would have left the teens' punishment up to a Family Court judge and the potential sentences would have been far less severe.

The nine teens and their parents had packed Cherry's courtroom during Friday's hearing. Outside court, defense attorneys said they were surprised that the judge failed to throw out any of the charges.

Gazlay's attorney, James "Bucky" Buchanan, called Cherry's ruling "a stunning defeat."

He said it would be a shame if defendants who did not actually throw rocks were convicted of an attempted murder charge.

"If these kids who were just there are convicted of attempted murder, that would be the unjust verdict of the century," he said.

Hart's attorney, Sean Sullivan, said while he was disappointed with the ruling, "we're still pressing forward with our investigation and with the trial preparation."

Defense attorney Karen Winckler had argued that her client, Anthony Gallion, was not present when the rocks were thrown, as prosecutors had alleged.

She and other attorneys had questioned whether mere presence at the incident should add up to conspiracy and attempted murder.

But Cherry said he considered presence together with other circumstances when deciding that the charges would stand. The teens could have aided and abetted each other in the commission of the crime, he said.

Ultimately each teen's involvement in the attack would be left up to a jury to decide, he said.

"Mere presence is an outstanding issue and it will be an issue throughout the trial," he said.

Jerome Bowen, the lawyer representing Hansen, Grill and Lefevre, said all of the teens must accept responsibility for the events that unfolded the night of the attack.

"It's not about winning or losing," he said. "This is about justice. It's about what's right and wrong. These boys (the defendants) were clearly in the wrong."

Lefevre's father, Clark, who attended the hearing, said his son has graduated from high school and is now in cosmetology school.

He said the teen still gets upset over the ordeal, but he is looking forward to a fair resolution at trial.

In addition to testifying at the trial, Craig Lefevre will also attend each day of the trial to ensure that the teens are punished for their actions, his father said.

"He's prepared to do whatever he has to do to see that justice is served," Clark Lefevre said.