Man in car chase sentenced to prison term

By Matt Pordum

Monday, Aug. 15, 2005 | 11:23 a.m.

Kentro Taylor was sentenced to 14 to 40 years in prison Friday for his part in a high-speed chase through North Las Vegas during which his girlfriend fired an assault rifle at police officers.

A Clark County jury found Taylor guilty of seven counts of attempted murder of a police officer and one count each of conspiracy to commit murder, possession of stolen property and failure to stop for an officer in connection with the Feb. 18 pursuit.

Gates opted not to follow the Department of Parole and Probation' recommendation that Taylors' sentences be served consecutively. If he had, Taylor would have been sentenced to 67 to 306 years in prison.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Frank Coumou said he "fully appreciated and understood" Gates' decision because the judge "recognized the charges all came from one fluid action of crime the defendant was involved in."

Taylor's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Kevin Speed, deemed Parole and Probation's recommendation "incredibly harsh and completely unfair."

Speed said the sentence was "what I expected from Judge Gates." He said Taylor would now begin working with an appellate attorney from the public defender's office to prepare his appeal.

Speed said the focus of the appeal would be prosecutorial misconduct stemming from opening arguments at trial.

Taylor was a murder suspect in Louisiana when police from Metro's fugitive detail spotted him in Las Vegas in February. Taylor was visiting a pregnant ex-girlfriend in Las Vegas. He is to be sent to face the Louisiana charges after his Las Vegas case has concluded.

During pre-trial motions Gates ruled prosecutors could not refer to Taylor as a murder suspect or a fugitive, but in opening arguments to the jury Coumou said Taylor was "a person who was wanted for murder, an arrest warrant was out on him for murder."

Gates acknowledged Coumou's error outside the presence of the jury, but denied Speed's motion for a mistrial.

In court Friday, Taylor complained to Gates. "I didn't get a fair trial," Taylor told Gates, adding that he was "not responsible" for April Jones' decision to shoot at police officers with an assault rifle during the chase.

"Once she (Jones) fired, what was I supposed to do, stop and get killed, let her get killed," Taylor said. "I did the best thing I felt I could do. I told her to put down the gun and to get out of the car."

In explaining why he didn't cooperate with the police when they initially pulled him over, Taylor said, "In Louisiana, if you get caught with a gun in your car, you are going to get shot. I had my reasons for running because I was wanted on murder charges."

After Taylor had finished speaking, Gates said he simply didn't believe that Jones "was in charge" and said, instead, he felt she was "acting under your (Taylor's) control"

Gates said Jones had no criminal history and in her testimony said "she was in love with Taylor and said she would do anything for him even dying."

The judge added that Taylor had two attempted murder convictions in 1991 and had been arrested previously for car-jacking and armed robbery.

Speed argued that Taylor had wrongly been framed as the "mastermind, the manipulator." Speed said Taylor realized he should have stopped the car, but "the person who said they did the shooting from day one was April Jones."

Throughout Taylor's trial prosecutors argued that Taylor and Jones were acting as a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, working together during the chase, endangering not only police officers, but also other motorists and pedestrians along the streets where the chase took place.

Prosecutors said after police flashed their lights and turned their sirens on, Taylor pulled over to the side of the road. He waited for police officers to exit their patrol cars and approach before he sped off, beginning the chase.

Jones previously pleaded guilty to eight counts of attempted murder of a police officer and one count each of conspiracy to commit murder and aiming a gun at an officer. It's unclear how Gates' decision to dismiss the one count of attempted murder of a police officer against Taylor will affect Jones.

As part of her guilty plea, Jones testified during the three-day trial. In exchange for Jones' testimony, prosecutors agreed not to oppose concurrent prison sentences for Jones' 11 felonies. At a minimum, Jones could theoretically be sentenced merely to probation, but Gates said Tuesday that was unlikely.

Possible sentences for Jones ranges from four years in prison to as much as 342 years. If concurrent sentences are imposed, the maximum is 40 years.