Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Man sentenced in bat attack

As she sentenced 18-year-old Elvin Avila to two to six years in prison Thursday, District Judge Valorie Vega said that being an angry drunk was no excuse for using a baseball bat to beat a group of young women in a park.

Vega also said it was "highly unusual to see an act this highly violent coming before the court as a first offense." Vega implied that had it not been the first time Avila had been charged with a serious crime, Avila likely would have been sentenced to twice as many years behind bars because that's what the Parole and Probation Department recommended.

Avila was originally charged with four counts of battery with a deadly weapon, two counts of battery with substantial bodily harm and two counts of attempted robbery for the attack but agreed to enter a guilty plea in exchange for a reduction in charges. Avila pleaded guilty on Nov. 18 to two counts of battery with a deadly weapon.

About 3 a.m. on Sept. 16, he walked up to a group of young women in Shadow Rock Park, on Los Feliz Street and Carey Avenue, and started striking some of them with a baseball bat. He also smashed a video camera that one of them had used to film the beginning of the attack.

Kristin Berwald suffered a fractured skull and may have permanent hearing loss in her left ear from the beating. Deanna Sevedra, 21, the woman who captured part of the attack with her video camera, needed three stitches to close a wound under her eye and suffered other injuries.

The judge sentenced Avila to two to six years for the attack on Berwald and two to six years for the attack on Sevedra. Vega ordered the sentences run concurrent. The Parole and Probation Department had recommended that the sentences be consecutive.

Avila will also have to pay more than $14,000 in restitution to Berwald and more than $5,000 to Sevedra.

Vega said Avila, who had been a good student in high school and was accepted into the U.S. Marine Corps, had been "on a path to become someone productive in society" and might have never committed his crimes if he wasn't drinking alcohol the night of the incident.

"It's clear to this court that alcohol brings out the very worst in this young man," Vega said. "Mr. Avila is extremely fortunate that no one was killed. However, these victims will suffer long term because of this violence and because of that he should be appropriately punished."

Avila's attorney, Michael Sanft, said Avila had consumed "between 9 and 10 beers in one hour" the night of the attack.

Sanft said just as some people who have too much to drink might "dance on tables" or do other embarrassing acts not in line with their normal character, if you "take it out of that social context and place it with Elvin" it's similar.

Avila was arrested Sept. 23. Metro Police officials say he gave a full confession to officers. Authorities said Avila told them he was sorry for the attack and that he was drunk and angry that the group of girls had videotaped him and his friends.

Sanft said it was then that Avila went over toward the girls and hit the camera.

The victims of the attack, however, testified in court Thursday that Avila hit more than just the camera.

Sevedra, who said she still suffers head trauma and headaches that are so bad she often passes out as a result of the blows Avila delivered, took issue with Avila using alcohol as an excuse.

"Voluntary drunkenness is not an excuse," Sevedra said. "He did it out of an evil heart and didn't stop."

Sevedra missed a year of school because of her injuries and said if Berwald hadn't stopped Avila from continuing to hit Sevedra, she might have been killed.

Avila struck Berwald when she pulled him away from Sevedra.

Berwald said she is forced to take dizziness pills daily and suffers headaches and memory loss because of Avila's attack.

"Every night when I go to bed I see nightmares about what happened that night," Berwald said. "I get scared when I'm taking out the garbage. It's a shame people like him (Avila) are on the streets."

She said because of her injuries she "can't fly on airplanes, go to the mountains, and go on roller coasters -- things I want to do now."

"I'll never understand why a bat was used on me, weighing all of 110 pounds," Berwald said.

Avila turned to Berwald and Sevedra in court and offered what he called a "heartfelt apology" during a brief statement to the court in which he also asked Vega to "please have mercy upon me."

Sevedra said she didn't believe Avila was sincere because he failed to look either Berwald or herself in the eye when he apologized.

Berwald said she wasn't sure if Avila had apologized because he meant it or "because he was being sentenced today."

Hendricks cast doubt on Avila's contention that he took responsibility for his actions by turning himself in to police. Hendricks reminded Vega that Avila fled to California after the incident.

"He (Avila) came in and accepted responsibility, but I'm not sure if he would have if not for him being captured on videotape."

Hendricks also said "intoxication is no excuse because what he did was so awful" as he urged Vega to "make sure he (Avila) is punished for this with prison time."

In an unusual move, Sanft questioned Sevedra before she left the witness stand on Thursday, asking her if she had drugs in her system the night of the attack. Still in tears from making her statement, she admitted to using cocaine that night.

The question was apparently intended to draw Vega's attention to conflicting statements Sevedra made about the number of times she was hit by Avila.

Sanft unsuccessfully argued for probation or a lesser prison sentence from Vega using the sentencing District Judge Michael Cherry utilized in the case of the 311 Boyz.

On Aug. 16 Cherry sentenced several members of a teenage gang to a variety of sentences for participating in the July 2003 stoning that smashed 17-year-old Stephen Tanner Hansen's face.

Without naming the case or judge, Sanft said the cases should be looked at side by side, because in the case of the 311 Boyz they were known to videotape themselves as they went around and hurt people.

In that case, the judge allowed for time served in jail and factored house arrest and several years of probation into the sentences.

"The judge sentenced those individuals with an eye on their future," Sanft said. "He gave them an opportunity to sit in jail and think about what they have done and then prove they change and be better people."

The defense attorney asked the judge to not "throw away his (Avila's) life because he has worth."

Sevedra, who was crying as she walked out of court, had hoped Avila would receive a longer sentence. She turned to her friends, family and supporters walking out and said, with a tone of disbelief, "that's all he got?"

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