6th arrest made in officer’s death; 5 face formal charges

By Cara McCoy

Published Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009 | 3:47 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009 | 5:43 p.m.

A sixth person has been arrested in the death of Metro Police Officer Trevor Nettleton, North Las Vegas Police announced Wednesday.

Michael Ferguson, 25, was arrested in connection with accessory to murder after the fact. He was detained Saturday on misdemeanor court warrants and booked into the North Las Vegas Detention Center on those charges. After his arrest, detectives interviewed him regarding the investigation into Nettleton's death, police said.

Police didn't offer details on Ferguson's apparent relationship to 18-year-old Emmitt Ferguson, who on Sunday was arrested on the same charge of accessory to murder after the fact.

Also Wednesday, the Clark County District Attorney’s office filed formal charges against five alleged gang members previously arrested in Nettleton’s death.

Saul Williams Jr., 20, Prentice Marshall, 18, Quadre Scott, 18, and Adrian Pena, 17, are charged with one count each of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang; as well as one count each of conspiracy to commit robbery; burglary while in possession of a firearm and attempted robbery, all with criminal gang enhancements.

Pena is charged as an adult in the case.

Emmitt Ferguson is facing one count of being an accessory to murder, also with a gang enhancement. He allegedly helped to hide the gun used in the shooting after the other four had been arrested.

Details about Michael Ferguson’s alleged role as an accessory in the murder haven’t been released, nor has information as to whether he is connected to a criminal gang.

The five previously arrested men are scheduled to be arraigned in North Las Vegas Justice Court at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. The complaint alleges the five belong to the Wood Street gang. Williams, Marshall, Scott and Pena are being held without bail; Emmitt Ferguson’s bond was set at $500,000.

North Las Vegas Detention Center records show Michael Ferguson is being held without bond on separate charges of battery domestic violence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He is scheduled to appear in court Monday; a pretrial hearing on the battery charge is scheduled for next Friday, jail records show.

The accessory charge currently has a $100,000 bond attached, records show.

On Monday, Marshall, Williams and Pena appeared in front of a North Las Vegas justice of the peace via videoconference from the North Las Vegas jail. Emmitt Ferguson and Scott appeared Tuesday.

The complaint released Wednesday charges that Pena acted as a lookout, a getaway driver and provided the firearm to be used in the crime; Scott also allegedly acted as a lookout; Marshall, armed with a gun, and Williams, are said to be the two who entered the Nettletons’ garage -- and Marshall pulled the trigger and Williams attempted the robbery, the complaint said.

Those details were further outlined in an arrest report released Monday.

Nettleton, 30, was confronted in his garage in the 1100 block of Emerald Stone Avenue near Lone Mountain Road and Donna Street shortly after midnight Thursday. The three-year Metro Police veteran had just returned from work and wasn’t in uniform when he was shot in the leg, followed by a fatal shot to the chest, authorities said.

The arrest report released earlier this week indicates Marshall, who was shot in the testicles during an exchange of gunfire in Nettleton’s garage, admitted to police that he was the gunman.

It also indicates that Emmitt Ferguson knew the gun had been used in the crime; the complaint says he aided the other four by concealing it at the request of Williams, his stepbrother. Over the phone from the North Las Vegas jail, Williams told Emmitt Ferguson to take the “H,” meaning “heat,” from the “B,” meaning “bathroom,” and put it in the “A,” meaning attic, a police report indicated.

Nettleton was laid to rest Wednesday after a funeral procession that spanned the length of the Las Vegas Strip. He is survived by his wife, also named as a victim in the complaint, a 2-year-old son and 2-month-old daughter.

The Injured Police Officers Fund has opened an account for Nettleton's family at Nevada State Bank. The account number is 602027542.