Farley’s request for early release is denied

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Wednesday, March 30, 2005 | 9:38 a.m.

A judge told an alleged member of the 311 Boyz gang that he will have to "be a man" and serve the remaining four months of the jail sentence he received for his part in the July 2003 rock attack that left 18-year-old Stephen Tanner Hansen with a crushed face.

District Judge Michael Cherry said while it "was a tough call" for him not to release Christopher Farley from the Clark County Detention Center on Tuesday, he said Farley was lucky to begin with that Cherry hadn't sentenced him to state prison.

Farley was one of the four alleged members of the gang to serve time in the detention center. Cherry had sentenced Farley, Jeffrey Hart, 18-year-old Matthew Costello and 19-year-old Steven Gazlay to one year at the Clark County Detention Center, a year of house arrest and three more on probation.

In asking Cherry to consider allowing Farley to serve the remaining four months of his detention center sentence on house arrest, Farley's attorney, Robert Draskovich, said Farley was a "good kid that made a bad, bad mistake."

Draskovich said Farley has been trouble free during the past six months in jail and said the high school dropout was eager to earn his GED but couldn't do so in the detention center because he was not given access to the books required to do so.

The defense attorney said Farley has been punished enough in the detention center and even when he completes house arrest and probation he will be "a felon for the rest of his life."

Cherry said while he appreciated the letters of support sent to him from Farley's family, who packed the courtroom on Tuesday, he couldn't alter the terms of the sentence for what he deemed an "unbelievable crime."

Another alleged member of the 311 Boyz, Dominic Harriman, is scheduled to be sentenced by Cherry on April 5 for violating the judge's order to stay out of trouble.

In August 2004, when Cherry fined Harriman $2,000, he did not place Harriman on probation. But Cherry did order Harriman to stay out of trouble for one year.

Harriman was arrested twice last month, once in Nye County on Feb. 23 and again in Clark County on Feb. 28. Additionally Harriman was found to have an outstanding warrant for a domestic battery charge in Henderson.

Because Harriman violated the terms of his plea agreement, he now faces up to a year in prison for the charge of conspiracy to commit burglary. He pleaded guilty to that charge in connection with the rock attack that injured Hansen.

Harriman was arrested in Pahrump and charged with possessing stolen property and drugs, according to police. Harriman, who also allegedly had a handgun with him when he was arrested, is scheduled to appear in Pahrump Justice Court on April 25 to face those charges.

On Feb. 28 Metro Police pulled Harriman over about 1 a.m. in the area of Charleston Boulevard and Buffalo Drive for a traffic violation. When they ran a check on him, they found he had four traffic warrants, according to the police report. Then the officers allegedly found methamphetamine in Harriman's possession.

Since sentencing the alleged 311 Boyz members Cherry has granted Costello a release from his jail time. Costello is now serving one year under house arrest and then three years of probation. Brandon Gallion, 17, was given a year of house arrest and four years' probation and 17-year-old Ernest Aguilar was sentenced to probation.

Charges of attempted murder against Anthony Gallion, 16, were dismissed May 18. The only alleged member of the 311 Boyz to go to trial for attack on Hansen was 19-year-old Scott Morse. He was acquitted of all charges in June.