Man pleads not guilty in walkway stabbing death on Las Vegas Strip

By Dave Toplikar

Monday, Aug. 15, 2011 | 11:22 a.m.

A man accused of stabbing another man during the early hours of July 4 near the Cosmopolitan on the Las Vegas Strip pleaded not guilty on a gang-enhanced murder charge today in Clark County District Court.

Pedro Carlos Robledo, 28, has been charged with murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in the death of Javier Medrano-Padilla.

As Robledo stood behind a glass window facing the lower level courtroom, his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Norman Reed, said Robledo would enter a not guilty plea.

Arraignment Master Melissa De La Garza asked Robledo from the courtroom how he pled.

"I plead not guilty, ma'am," he said into a microphone.

De La Garza scheduled a date for his trial setting for 9:30 a.m. Aug. 24 before Judge Stefany Miley.

Medrano-Padilla was stabbed early in the morning on July 4 on the pedestrian walkway between the Cosmopolitan and Planet Hollywood.

Officers responded to the scene at 1:52 a.m. and found Medrano-Padilla with multiple stab wounds. He was taken to University Medical Center’s trauma unit, where he was pronounced dead.

When first arrested, Robelo was charged with murder with the use of a deadly weapon. Prosecutors now allege Robledo is a member of the Nevada Trece and/or Brown Pride Locotes gangs, also known as BPL, and that the stabbing was done as a way to promote the Nevada Trece gang.

During Robledo’s preliminary hearing in Las Vegas Justice Court, his estranged wife, Patrisia Amezcua, testified that Robledo phoned her and texted her during the early morning hours of July 4 that he had “stabbed somebody” in self defense and needed her to come to pick him up.

She also testified that he sent her several text messages up through the following afternoon. Prosecutors say the content of those text messages indicated that Robledo was “clearly riding” with Nevada Trece and that they had derogatory messages about Surenos.

Deputy District Attorney Ravi Bawa said the evidence showed Robledo armed himself with at least one steak knife and started a fight with some men who appeared to be members of the Surenos, who often wear blue. Bawa said a surveillance video showed Robledo running away with another man, then stopping at a spot where the steak knife was found.

Bawa said Robledo was trying to enhance the image of the new Nevada Trece gang and send a message to the California-based Surenos gang to “stay out of our state.”