Appeal denied in LV gang killing

Thursday, Oct. 7, 2004 | 8:28 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- Ashley W. Bennett, sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murder in a gang shooting in Las Vegas, has lost his appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Bennett, a member of the Gerson Park Kingsmen, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the March 2001 death of Joseph "Doughboy" Williams, a member of the Rolling Sixties.

Williams, 26, was shot 14 times by Bennett and others.

One of Bennett's co-defendants, Anthony Gantt, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder and agreed to testify for the prosecution. But when he entered the courtroom for the Bennett trial, he said, "I ain't going to testify."

District Judge Michael Douglas, who is now on the Supreme Court, allowed the Clark County district attorney's office to introduce evidence that Bennett intimidated and threatened Gantt, causing him to be reluctant to testify.

Gantt, now 19, then testified that Bennett threatened that he was going to bring Gantt's family in to watch him testify.

The Supreme Court said Tuesday that the record "shows that this threat was particularly intimidating to Gantt because Gantt's father and uncle were members of the Gerson Park Kingsmen, the same gang that Bennett belonged to. Gantt's family did not want him to make a deal with the state to testify.

Gantt received a sentence of 20 years to life. A third defendant, Lailoni Morrison, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms and will not be eligible for parole until he has served 20 years in prison.