Killer gets 40 years in slaying of aspiring rapper

Thursday, May 5, 2005 | 9:35 a.m.

An alleged gang member who was convicted of murdering an aspiring rapper because he was wearing the wrong colors on the wrong side of town was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison on Wednesday.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure levied the sentence against Montrail Smith for the May 2003 killing of 20-year-old Donald "Duck" Lolar in the parking lot of the Casa Sorrento apartment complex, 3580 E. Alexander Road.

Bonaventure said the murder was yet another example of the "ocean of crime and corruption" that has swept across Las Vegas in recent years.

"This town is like the town I left to get away from violence, New York City," Bonaventure said.

The judge added that even though Smith would now spend most of his life in prison and "at least one person is off the street without a gun, there are three to four more to take his place."

Lolar's sister, Ekaya Lolar, said in "four days it will be two years since my brother will have been gone and my life has not been right since."

"I just feel he (Smith) didn't give my brother a chance," Ekaya Lolar said through tears. "He was trying to do an album, he was an aspiring rapper, he wasn't a gangster. Just because he wore the wrong colors at the wrong time he's dead."

Smith apologized to Lolar's family saying "they lost a loved one and now being found guilty my family has lost a loved one."

He said he had been "caught up in the street life."

"The streets are taking lives every day," Smith said. "People need to do documentaries on the streets to see what's going on. But I made a wrong choice and I apologize."

Smith also has another murder trial on the horizon. He is accused of opening fire in a schoolyard and killing Demond Branch in that case and is awaiting the appointment of a lawyer to defend him.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Frank Coumou said Smith was offered a deal in which he would have pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and been sentenced to concurrent prison time.

Smith rejected the negotiation and now faces the possibility of consecutive life sentences if convicted of murdering Branch.