Sun file
The exterior of Rancho High School is shown in this Jan. 27, 2019, file photo. Eight people, all between the ages of 13 and 17 and students at Rancho, face murder charges in the Nov. 1, 2023, beating death of 17-year-old Jonathan Lewis, Metro Police said.
Published Friday, Nov. 17, 2023 | 8:59 a.m.
Updated Friday, Nov. 17, 2023 | 10:08 a.m.
Four of the eight teen suspects in the beating death of a Rancho High School student have been booked into adult jail and were making their first adult court appearances.
Booking logs for the Clark County Detention Center show that Dontral Beaver, 16, Damien Hernandez, 17, Treavion Randolph, 16, and Gianni Robinson, 17, were booked Thursday on counts of open murder in connection with the Nov. 7 death of Jonathan Lewis, 17.
They were arrested Tuesday and initially booked into the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center before a court hearing Wednesday confirming that they would be prosecuted as adults.
Beaver, Hernandez and Robinson had their initial appearances today in Clark County District Court. Randolph was set for his initial appearance this afternoon.
Under Nevada law, minors accused of murder are automatically transferred to the adult justice system if they are 16 or 17 years old. According to jail records, one of the suspects, Randolph, turned 16 on the day of the beating.
The other four suspects, who are between 13 and 15 years old, face hearings at a later date to determine if they will also be prosecuted as adults.
Additionally, Metro Police homicide investigators are seeking two more young men in connection with the crime captured on bystander videos.
Beaver, Hernandez, Randolph and Robinson are accused of participating in the beating of Lewis in an off-campus alley across the street from Rancho after school on Nov. 1, according to police.
Lewis died in the hospital several days later of blunt force trauma, authorities said.
Police said the beating started as a fight over stolen headphones and possibly a vape pen and swiftly turned into a mob of about 10 students swarming Lewis as he lay on the ground.
Viral video of the incident shows the crowd punching, kicking and stomping the barely visible victim, who was crumpled against a fence not defending himself.
A neighbor carried the unconscious boy to Rancho, where school staff attempted life-saving measures before medics took him to University Medical Center, authorities said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
