Sheriff laments release of suspect on bail

Friday, June 18, 2004 | 11:05 a.m.

Clark County Sheriff Bill Young today expressed frustration that bail wasn't set higher for a North Las Vegas man wanted on charges of killing a retired Air Force major this month.

But Chief Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo said if prosecutors had charged the suspect with attempted murder in the first place, he could have been held with no bond.

Police have called Raymond Alton Garrett, 37, a career criminal. He is now sought on murder charges in the death of 51-year-old Michael Born. Garrett of the 2100 block of Kenneth Road, was charged with homicide in 1985 as well, court records and Sun archives reveal.

Garrett this year has been arrested twice and charged with two separate violent crimes, one in February and one earlier this month. Garrett was released from Clark County Detention Center in February after posting $14,000 bond for the first case and was supposed to return to court for a preliminary hearing in July.

When he was arrested again on Saturday in connection with the June 2 beating of Born -- who died Tuesday -- Garrett posted bond of $16,000 and was released from the detention center on Sunday. At the time he was freed from jail, Born was still alive and Garrett had not been charged with murder.

"You can imagine the frustration of law enforcement to make the arrest and then have this clown on the streets," Young said. "If Bill Young had his say, he would have locked the guy up and thrown away the key. But under the eyes of the law people have the right to bail. That's our system.

"I get extremely upset at the bail set for a lot of crimes, particularly violent crimes. But it doesn't matter if we have video of the guy. He still has the right to make bail."

Bail in Las Vegas Justice Court, where Garrett was processed, is set based on particular crimes. When the charge is murder, often no bail is set.

Abbatangelo said today that judges in his court agree to bail for particular crimes but have the discretion to raise or lower those bails as they see fit.

Justice of the Peace Karen Bennett-Haron set the bail for Garrett's June 12 arrest.

At one time police believed Garrett to be a member of the West Coast Bloods street gang, and Garrett's run-ins with police go back at least 19 years.

When they were teens, Garrett and his brother, Anthony Garrett, were arrested and charged with murder in the May 1985 shooting of 22-year-old Donald Vincent Oliver in Las Vegas. The shooting allegedly occurred after an argument, according to Las Vegas Sun archives. Raymond Garrett, who was 18 at the time, was dating Oliver's former girlfriend, newspaper reports from that time note.

The Garrett brothers agreed to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for prosecutors dropping the murder charges. But District Judge John Mendoza rejected the plea agreements.

Raymond Garrett's case was then sent back to Justice Court, where the charges against him were dismissed. Anthony Garrett went to trial but he was found not guilty by a jury.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Barker, who prosecuted Anthony Garrett, said he recalled that Raymond Garrett's case was dismissed because Anthony Garrett was the gunman. Barker said Anthony Garrett was exonerated because it was deemed that he shot Oliver in self defense after Oliver threatened him.

In addition to his 1990 felony conviction for burglary and robbery, Raymond Garrett was convicted of misdemeanor grand larceny in 1986 and of carrying a concealed weapon, another misdemeanor, in 1989.

Garrett went to prison on a robbery and burglary conviction in 1990. But he was released before serving his entire 15-year sentence. He had filed for early release in 1999 and his case was closed in July 2003, according to court records.

And police records indicate that the deadly attack on Born is similar to a beating for which Garrett was arrested four months ago. In both cases, Garrett allegedly approached the victims at night in parking lots of stores and then allegedly beat and robbed them.

Garrett was arrested hours after allegedly assaulting Hector Mendoza, 23, of Las Vegas at 7:14 p.m. on Feb. 10 in the Vons grocery store parking lot at 4610 W. Sahara Ave.

According to Garrett's arrest report, Mendoza was leaving the store when he was approached by a man who parked his car in front of Mendoza, blocking his access to the parking lot.

"Hector stated that the black male driver asked if he had change for a $20, at which time Hector stated that he did in fact have the change," the report stated.

"When he removed his wallet from his pocket and reached into it the black male exited the vehicle and struck Hector Mendoza in the face with a closed fist, knocking him to the ground."

Taken were Mendoza's Nautica wallet, $320 in cash as well as a credit card and other identification.

Witness identification of the suspect's 1989 Chevrolet Celebrity led police to arrest Garrett at a traffic stop on Pecos Road, south of Lake Mead Boulevard. The wallet and $312 in cash were seized and Garrett was booked into Clark County Detention Center.

Garrett told police that he had robbed Mendoza because he was "having problems at home with his new child" and needed some extra money.

Garrett, whom police describe as 6-feet 2-inches tall and 275 pounds, also told police that he did not intend to seriously hurt Mendoza but wanted to distract him enough to get his wallet. Mendoza wound up in the University Medical Center emergency room, where he was treated for a facial laceration.

For that incident, Garrett was charged with felony robbery, battery with substantial bodily harm, and battery with intent to comment robbery. He posted $14,000 bond and was released, with a preliminary court hearing scheduled for July 26.

But on June 2 at about 10:35 p.m. a suspect police believe was Garrett approached Born, a Las Vegas resident, as Born was replacing a headlight bulb in his 1997 Nissan Maxima in the Wal-Mart parking lot at 201 N. Nellis Blvd.

A store surveillance camera showed a black man with a large build approaching Born from behind. The suspect, according to the arrest report, "appears to knock Born to the ground with an unknown number of punches to the head, and then he turns Born's pockets inside out looking for valuables."

When police reviewed the stores surveillance videotapes they saw that the same man who attacked Born had been "hanging out in front of the Wal-Mart store, and walking around the parking lot for approximately 25 minutes prior to robbery."

A woman walked up on the robbery, apparently causing the attacker to run off toward a nearby Denny's Restaurant. The woman then called police on her cell phone and gave police a detailed description of the attacker. Police now are trying to find the woman because they need to talk to her again.

Born, transported to UMC's trauma center, fell into a coma and was placed on life support before he died on Tuesday.

On June 3, a day after the attack, Born's wallet was found in the 5300 block of East Washington Avenue. On June 9, Born's driver's license was found in the parking lot of the Blockbuster Video store at 5891 E. Charleston Blvd. And on June 10, Garrett was spotted at another Wal-Mart store at 4350 N. Nellis Blvd. taking custody of his child who was allegedly caught shoplifting.

After police observed surveillance video of Garrett at the 4350 N. Nellis store and compared it with the video taken of the assault on Born, Garrett was arrested again by police after they pulled over his car on Saturday. During a search of his residence, police allegedly found a shotgun and ammunition.

"Garrett denied robbing anyone or ever being at the Wal-Mart, and stated that the shotgun was not his," the arrest report stated.

Garrett was charged with felony robbery, battery with intent to commit robbery, and possession of a firearm by an ex-felon. On Sunday, he posted $16,000 bond and was released from the county detention center.

On Monday the Clark County District Attorney's Office filed a motion in Las Vegas Justice Court to have Garrett's bail revoked for the February incident. Deputy District Attorney Mary Brown wrote of Garrett that "Defendant is a recidivist violent offender who poses a grave danger to the people of the state of Nevada while he is free on bail."

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Douglas Smith agreed to the bail revocation request and signed a bench warrant on Tuesday for Garrett's arrest. And his charges will now be upgraded to murder, Roger said.

Police have released a photo of the witness they are trying to locate for the assault on Born. Young said the reason police have not released a photo of Garrett is that they would first like the witness to identify him in a police lineup once he is arrested. Publishing Garrett's photograph beforehand could taint the lineup process, Young said.

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