Court news briefs for June 22, 2004

Tuesday, June 22, 2004 | 9:43 a.m.

Trial set in May slaying

A 19-year-old Las Vegas man pleaded not guilty Monday to murder with use of a deadly weapon in the killing of a 22-year-old Las Vegas man after an argument last month.

Brandon Jamar Olds is scheduled to go to trial Aug. 23 before District Judge Donald Mosley in the death of Lennell Bell.

Bell was shot about 1:30 a.m. May 19 outside an apartment in the 3900 block of Algonquin Drive.

Three life terms given in killings

A man was sentenced Monday to three consecutive life prison sentences for the decade-old killings of his live-in girlfriend and her two daughters.

Estanislao Prado Gonzalez, 49, most recently of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty on May 28 to the three murder counts in a deal with prosecutors that called for life in prison without the possibility of parole in exchange for telling authorities the location of the bodies.

Deputy District Attorney Darrell Mavis said he couldn't comment on the case, adding "That information is sealed (by the court)."

Gonzalez killed Luz Maria Mucino and her daughters, Edith Mucino Gonzalez, 18, and Gabriela Mucino Gonzalez, 17, between Nov. 26, 1994, and Dec. 4, 1994.

Luz Mucino was also the mother of his twin children, a boy and girl. The district attorney's office said they had a stormy relationship and separated when the twins were about a year old.

Mavis said he filed the murder case last year after DNA testing of evidence and Gonzalez was arrested in Las Vegas on May 1, 2003. He was extradited without objection to Los Angeles County a week later.