Woman enters plea agreement to shooting at police officers

Molly Ball

Wednesday, July 6, 2005 | 9:08 a.m.

In a last-minute plea-bargain, the 21-year-old woman who shot at police while her boyfriend allegedly led the officers on a high-speed chase has agreed to testify against the boyfriend in his trial, which began Tuesday.

April Jones made the deal in court on Tuesday morning, just as she was scheduled to go on trial alongside 31-year-old Kentro Taylor.

Jones pleaded guilty to eight counts of attempted murder in addition to conspiracy to commit murder, not stopping for the police and possessing stolen property.

The stolen property in question is the fully automatic AR-15 assault rifle Jones said she used to shoot at Metro Police as they pursued the car driven by Taylor.

In entering her guilty plea to the crimes, Jones told District Judge Lee Gates she was shooting to kill as Taylor weaved through traffic in North Las Vegas.

In exchange for Jones's 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 range from four years in prison to as much as 342 years. If concurrent sentences are imposed, the maximum is 40 years.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Frank Coumou defended the decision to offer Jones a deal despite the fact that she bragged about targeting police officers with a dangerous weapon in local media interviews.

Coumou noted that the bargain did not involve reduced charges for Jones.

"It's not much of a deal," he said. "She pled to everything."

Jones's attorney, Brian Bloomfield, said Jones accepted the deal because she wanted to "take responsibility for what she did," but she was not the instigator of the shooting spree.

"She was directly under the influence of Mr. Taylor," Bloomfield said. He said Jones had no adult criminal record prior to the chase.

Jones told the judge she has a 10th-grade education and has problems reading.

Taylor was a murder suspect in Louisiana when police from Metro's fugitive detail spotted him in Las Vegas in February, according to police. Taylor was visiting a pregnant ex-girlfriend here.

Taylor's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Kevin Speed, tried unsuccessfully to waive a trial by jury, citing "the publicity that's been generated and associated with this trial" and "references to Depression-era gangsters." Jones and Taylor have been nicknamed "Bonnie and Clyde" by some observers.

But Speed succeeded in getting the judge to suppress references to Taylor's other alleged crimes. Prosecutors may not refer to his status as a murder suspect or a fugitive. To explain why police chased his car, they can say only that there was a warrant for Taylor's arrest, Gates ruled.

The lawyers in the case were scheduled to give opening statements this afternoon.