Key witness in shooting death flees courtroom

Erica D. Johnson

Thursday, March 18, 2004 | 11:11 a.m.

A preliminary hearing for two men charged in a shooting that killed a 13-year-old North Las Vegas girl was postponed a second time on Wednesday, after a key witness left court to avoid testifying.

Earnest Hicks was expected to testify that he saw Robert Earl Hayes, 21, and Todd Dominique Johnson, 18, fire the shots that killed Tanisha Turner on Nov. 20, Chief Deputy District Attorney Ed Kane said.

But when Kane called Hicks to the witness stand, he was nowhere to be found. Justice of the Peace Natalie Tyrrell postponed the hearing until April 1 and set bail at $500,000 for Hayes and $250,000 for Johnson.

Kane said Hicks, who had been subpoenaed to testify, had come to North Las Vegas Justice Court about 20 minutes before the hearing and Kane informed him that he would have to testify. At that time, Kane said, Hicks said he did not feel he should have to testify.

Hicks apparently slipped out of the courthouse before the case was called.

Kane told Tyrrell that he intended to issue a material witness warrant for Hicks' arrest. Once arrested, Hicks will have to appear before a judge and it will be up to the judge to set bail or keep him in custody until the preliminary hearing, Kane said.

"I'm not about to let Mr. Hicks get away with this," Kane said. "Frankly, I think he's earned the right to spend the weekend in jail."

Wednesday's continuance was the second setback for prosecutors in the case. The hearing was postponed earlier this month when Mabel Miles, also a prosecution witness, had an apparent seizure on the witness stand.

Prosecutors say Miles also told police she saw Hayes and Johnson fire the fatal shots.

Miles was scheduled to take the witness stand again on Wednesday, but she was undergoing surgery for an unrelated medical condition and was unable to testify, Kane said.

Without Miles' testimony, Hicks' became more crucial, Kane said.

"Mr. Hicks gave a 12-page tape-recorded statement to the police indicating that he was an eyewitness to the homicide," he said.

Authorities say Hayes and Johnson fired shots in a neighborhood near West Lake Mead and North Martin Luther King boulevards. Turner was struck as she was walking home.

Police said both men admitted to the crime. Johnson allegedly told police he handed the gun to Hayes, who was the gunman. Hayes allegedly told police that he fired the shots but did not intend to kill Turner. Hayes said he fired several shots at a carload of men and at least one of the men in the car fired in return.

Despite the apparent confessions, defense attorneys said the details of the shooting were still unclear.

"There were other people shooting in this incident," said Hayes' attorney, Darren Richards of the special public defender's office. "It's not that much of a slam dunk."

Johnson's attorney, Pete Christiansen, said the bulk of Johnson's supposed confession came after North Las Vegas Police detectives turned off their tape recorder.

He said the timing of his client's alleged confession was "more than a coincidence."

But Kane said the high bail was appropriate considering the tragic nature of the case.

"Gun battles at high noon on public streets are all too common in this community," the prosecutor said.