Court briefs for January 20, 2005

Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005 | 9:34 a.m.

Plea entered in barricade case

A 45-year-old man who says he pointed a gun at a mailbox store owner and then barricaded himself inside a Henderson bank on Dec. 3 -- allegedly because his Russian mail-order bride had become a prostitute -- pleaded not guilty to multiple charges on Wednesday.

Douglas McDonald, who owns an office-cleaning store and is a folk singer who has produced two CDs, is scheduled to stand trial before District Judge Lee Gates on March 8 for his alleged actions at the Bank of America on Horizon Ridge Parkway near U.S. 95 and at a Postnet store on College Drive.

McDonald is specifically charged with one count of aiming a weapon at another human being, two counts of burglary with use of a deadly weapon, one count of discharging a firearm and 10 counts of coercion with use of deadly weapon.

His attorney, Phil Singer, said he rejected an offer made by prosecutors for McDonald to plead guilty to lesser charges because "he (McDonald) wants to take the stand to tell his story."

McDonald's story, as relayed by Singer, has been that he snapped because he believed his 24-year-old Russian wife, whom he spent thousands of dollars to bring to the United States, had become a prostitute.

Hearing waived in sexual assault case

A man accused of robbing and sexually assaulting a 60-year-old woman at her home in December waived his right to his preliminary hearing Wednesday on the advice of his defense attorney.

Deputy Public Defender Kevin Speed, who had earlier failed to get television news crews barred from the hearing, felt that news coverage of a preliminary hearing would create a bias among potential jurors against 22-year-old Jermaine Johnson.

Johnson, who is in custody, is scheduled for arraignment before District Judge Michelle Leavitt on Jan. 27.

Police arrested Johnson and 24-year-old Gregory Parks for the New Year's Eve attack of a woman at her southwest Las Vegas home in what police described as a random act of violence.

Johnson and Parks are both charged with the robbery, kidnapping, attempted murder and sexual assault.

Parks was scheduled for his felony arraignment before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo this morning.

Man faces hearing in probation case

A 26-year-old man sentenced to probation for being part of a plot to kill a Rottweiler in a Summerlin neighborhood in December 2003 is back in custody after allegedly failing to report to his probation officer.

Melvin Gilchrist received a suspended sentence of 12 to 32 months for the reduced charge of resisting a public officer and was placed on probation by District Judge Jennifer Togliatti on May 24, 2004.

Under the terms of Togliatti's sentence, Gilchrist may now be forced to serve the 12 and 32 months in prison instead of three years' probation, depending on the outcome of a revocation hearing scheduled for Jan. 26 before Togliatti.

Gilchrist was originally charged with two counts of conspiracy to maim, poison or kill another person's animal, one count of assault of a police officer with a deadly weapon and one count of resisting a police officer.

Authorities said Gilchrist was hired by 25-year-old Ryan Schiestel on Dec. 5, 2003, to kill or harm the dog, which had killed an Italian greyhound in the same neighborhood a day earlier.