Last November, school personnel performed CPR on an unconscious student at Rancho High School in Las Vegas. According to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the teen boy was involved in an altercation with 15 others.
He was eventually identified as 17-year-old Jonathan Lewis, and he died after being transported to UMC Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
By Thanksgiving week, police had identified nine juveniles involved in the homicide and said they were looking for one more. That final suspect has still not been apprehended, per reports.
This week, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that four of the nine juveniles arrested and charged with murder who were expected to face murder charges as adults entered into plea deals for voluntary manslaughter. They are: Treavion Randolph, 16; Dontral Beaver, 16; Damien Hernandez, 18; and Gianni Robinson, 17.
Now, they will be sent back to Juvenile Court and eventually serve time in a juvenile detention center. It is not yet known how long their sentences will be – Brigid Duffy, the director of the Clark County district attorney’s office’s juvenile division said juvenile courts do not issue set sentences and that those in custody are released after completing rehabilitation programs. Attorneys announced the new arrangements Thursday during a hearing in front of District Judge Tierra Jones. Previously, the four teens faced second-degree murder and conspiracy charges.
“I’m just so dumbfounded and hurt and confused,” Mellisa Ready, Jonathan Lewis’ mother, said in a phone interview with the Review-Journal. “I don’t even know what’s going on, and I should know.”
According to the outlet, Lewis’ Nov. 1 beating was captured on video. Footage shows him being stomped on, kicked and punched. He died six days after the beating.
“Surveillance footage showed that Lewis pushed a student, who was one of the teens later arrested, and then punched another student before he was swarmed by the group of teenagers,” said the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Defense attorneys have argued in court documents that Lewis’ friend, who also was attacked, was armed with a knife during the confrontation.”
Ready told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the Clark County District Attorney’s Office did not inform her that plea deals were being reached for the four defendants this week. Instead, she said she heard about it from reporters after the hearing. Of the five other teens arrested for the incident, one was as young as 13 years old. They have remained in the juvenile court system. So far, four have admitted guilt for a voluntary manslaughter charge.
While the Las Vegas Review-Journal said Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson did not immediately respond to a request for comment, his office did send a statement to the paper.
“While the District Attorney’s Office acknowledges the pain the victim’s mother is going through as she mourns the loss of her son, the negotiation was accurately conveyed to her last week, prior to the court proceeding,” the statement said. “The conversation was witnessed by multiple DA personnel.”
This statement also explained “the State determined the juvenile court was best equipped to punish the defendants for their heinous conduct while also attempting to rehabilitate them.” However, Chief Deputy District Attorney John Giordani told the judge Thursday that all four teenagers will again face charges as adults is any one of them rescinds on the deal.