A Nevada judge this week rejected plea deals for four teenagers charged with killing a Las Vegas high school student, in a case authorities called a “lack of humanity.”
Judge Linda Marquis expressed concern about transferring the high-profile case from Clark County District Court to a juvenile detention center. The Clark County District Attorney’s Office told News 3..
The suspects, Damien Hernandez, Dontral Beaver, Gianni Robinson and Trevion Randolph, were all under 18 when they were charged with second-degree murder as adults last fall in the death of Jonathan Lewis.
Lewis, 17, was brutally beaten by a group of teenagers in an alley near Rancho High School on Nov. 1, 2023. He died six days later from blunt force trauma.
Earlier this month, prosecutors reached plea deals to transfer the cases of the four suspects to juvenile court, where they are expected to plead guilty to juvenile manslaughter.
Lewis’ mother, Mileisa Reddy, was horrified by the deal, which guaranteed the four young men accused of killing her son would avoid serving time in adult prison.
“There is no justice for my son Jonathan Lewis. He was trampled and murdered by 20 people who just stood there, filmed it and posted it on social media,” Reddy said.
Reddy also claimed he was not informed of the deal in advance, but the district attorney’s office argued that the terms of the deal were “precisely communicated” to him a week before.
“We evaluated all of the evidence comprehensively and were able to reach this mutually beneficial negotiation,” Gianni Robinson’s attorney, Robert Draskovich, said of the deal.
“Obviously what happened is a tragedy but convicting these young people of murder would be a second tragedy on the heels of the first,” he argued.
According to News 3, Judge Marquis’ rejection of the settlement means attorneys for both sides will have to address the judge’s concerns before the case returns to court in September to again file pleas.
The Clark County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment about its next steps.
Jonathan Lewis was allegedly attacked during a confrontation with a group of teenagers over wireless headphones that had supposedly been stolen from a friend.
The assault was captured on multiple mobile phone videos and local police called it “highly inhumane.”
The four boys initially claimed self-defense and said Lewis had struck first.
Five other young people were also charged in the case. Four of them, including a 13-year-old, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in juvenile detention.
The other boy is still awaiting sentencing.
