04/09/2024
04/09/2024
LAS VEGAS, Sept 4, (AP): Four Las Vegas teenagers pleaded guilty Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter in the fatal beating of their high school classmate, as part of a deal with prosecutors that kept them from being tried as adults. The teens originally were charged in January as adults with second-degree murder and conspiracy in connection with the November death of 17-year-old Jonathan Lewis Jr.
The attack was captured on cellphone video and shared widely across social media. Each teen faces incarceration at a juvenile detention center for an undetermined length of time, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Minors prosecuted in the juvenile court system in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, do not face traditional jail or prison sentences and instead are released from custody after they complete rehabilitation programs, according to Brigid Duffy, director of the juvenile division of the Clark County district attorney's office.
The Associated Press is not naming the teens because they were younger than 18 at the time of the Nov 1, 2023, attack. Defense lawyer Robert Draskovich, representing one of the four teens, said after court Tuesday that the deal "was a very fair resolution.” Lewis' mother, Mellisa Ready, said she does not agree with the plea deal. "There's literally no one being held accountable with true punishment for my son's murder,” she told the newspaper Tuesday. "It's disgusting.”