Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

California fugitive captured in Las Vegas won’t fight extradition

A fugitive arrested in Las Vegas after a police standoff told a local judge Thursday that he fears for his safety but won't contest his transfer to Northern California to face murder and probation-violation charges in the slaying of his ex-girlfriend.

William Carl Gardner III told Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joe M. Bonaventure that unspecified people threatened to kill him in California.

The judge said Gardner needed to lodge his concerns with jailers.

The 30-year-old appeared without a lawyer by videoconference from the Clark County jail. He's been in jail and unavailable for comment.

Bonaventure said California authorities have 30 days to retrieve him.

Gardner initially appeared confused by the extradition choices he was given, then agreed not to require the governor of California to issue a warrant to Nevada seeking his return.

Gardner surrendered to police and U.S. marshals early Tuesday after an hours-long standoff at a Las Vegas apartment. Police said another man, a woman and the woman's 3-year-old child were in the apartment, but weren't held against their will.

Police said the woman was charged with obstructing a public officer, a misdemeanor, for not exiting the apartment when told to do so.

Gardner was unarmed when he surrendered.

Gardner had been sought on a murder warrant in the Nov. 18 shooting death of Leslie Pinkston, 32, in a vehicle in downtown Winters, Calif., a city fewer than 7,000 people about 30 miles west of Sacramento.

Pinkston, the mother of a 6-year-old girl, had a court protection order against Gardner after previous confrontations, police said.

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