Nevada Supreme Court rejects appeals of four Las Vegas convicted murderers

By Cy Ryan

Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010 | 1:43 p.m.

CARSON CITY – A young man, convicted of killing a 14-year old boy over a sports jacket in Las Vegas, has lost his appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

The court upheld the conviction of Joseph T. Regala found guilty of the 2007 fatal shooting of Davonta Toms at a bus stop.

The court also denied the appeals of three other Las Vegas men, two of them brothers, found guilty of murders.

Regala argued his confession during 80 minutes of questioning by detectives was not voluntary.

The court said only the last 20 minutes was transcribed, he was twice read his rights and he was never threatened. Regala, now 23 and serving his life term at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City, was given water and allowed to smoke during the interview

He and several others were arrested at the time of the shooting by a .22 caliber rifle in an attempt to steal the Budweiser NASCAR jacket that Toms’ brother Nolan Clayton was wearing at the time.

In addition to first degree murder, Regala was convicted of four counts of attempted robbery and three counts of attempted murder in the shooting at three friends of the victim.

Also denied were the appeals of Demian Dominguez and his brother Ivan Dominguez in the bludgeoned and stabbing death of Mark Friedman in 2007.

The brothers claimed that Friedman died from medical errors at the hospital and not the stab wounds. That claim was rejected by the court.

Ivan, now 24 years old and Demian, now 27 years old, were accused conspiring with Friedman’s girlfriend Liliani Tomines who reportedly owed the victim $200,000.

Tomines pleaded guilty in 2009 to first degree murder and theft. The brothers, who are serving their life terms at the state prison in Ely, hid inside the home of Friedman and then attacked him when he arrived home.

The murder appeal of George M. Brass was also denied by the court. Brass, now 25 and serving his term at Ely, was convicted of the fatal shooting of Saul Nunez in September 2006.

Brass and three others approached a group of five men in an apartment parking lot and demanded money. Shooting erupted and Nunez died instantly and another man was wounded.

Brass argued that a gun found at the home of his parents where he was living should not have been admitted into evidence. And he said the preliminary hearing testimony of two witnesses should not have been allowed at trial since they were not present.