Four Las Vegas teenagers pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter Tuesday in the fatal beating of their high school classmate as part of an agreement with prosecutors that they will not be tried as adults.
The teens were originally charged as adults in January with second-degree murder and conspiracy in connection with the death of 17-year-old Jonathan Lewis Jr. in November.
The attack was recorded on a mobile phone and widely shared on social media.
Each juvenile faces confinement in a juvenile detention center for an indeterminate period, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported,
Ty O’Neal/AP
Damian Hernandez’s attorney, Karen A. Connolly, told CBS News, “Although Damian was not one of the main participants, he deeply regrets his participation in the melee that resulted in Jonathan’s tragic death. He accepts full responsibility and will accept whatever punishment is handed down.”
According to Brigid Duffy, director of the juvenile division of the Clark County District Attorneyโs Office, minors prosecuted in the juvenile court system in Clark County (which includes Las Vegas) do not face traditional jail or prison sentences but are instead released from custody after completing a rehabilitation program.
Defense attorney Robert Draskovich, representing one of the four teens, said after court Tuesday that the agreement was “a very fair settlement.”
CBS affiliate Class TV Draskovich said there are no sentencing limits for the juveniles under the plea agreement and it is up to the judge to decide the sentence for each one, according to the report.
Lewis’s mother, Melissa Reedy, said she doesn’t agree with the plea agreement.
Ready called the agreement disgusting and cried in court Tuesday morning.
“Nobody is being punished fairly for my son’s murder. It’s disgusting,” he told the Review-Journal.
KLAS said it is ready Plea agreement criticized Earlier he had claimed that he was not informed about it when the teenagers accepted the deal on August 1.
“I would have totally disagreed with this deal. They should be accountable as adults โ they made an adult choice,” she said. “They knew when they were trampling on my child’s head that he would die as a result of it.”
In a statement to The Associated Press after the terms of the settlement were made public, District Attorney Steve Wolfson’s office defended the resolution of the case, saying it took into account serious facts and potential legal challenges prosecutors could have faced at trial.
The juvenile court system is also better able to provide resources for rehabilitation to young defendants, the statement said.
In Nevada, a juvenile facing a murder charge can be charged as an adult if he or she was 13 years old or older at the time of the crime.
Authorities said the students had agreed to meet in an alley near Rancho High School to fight over a vape pen and wireless headphones stolen from Lewis’s friend. Lewis died six days later from his injuries.
According to court transcripts made public in January, a homicide detective who investigated the case told the grand jury that cellphone and surveillance video showed Lewis taking off his sweatshirt and punching a student. The suspects then knocked Lewis to the ground and began punching, kicking and stomping on him, the detective said.
According to the transcript, a student and a resident of the area beat Lewis badly and knocked him unconscious, and carried him back to campus. School staff called 911 and tried to help him.
