The Clark County District Attorney's office is upholding its controversial decision to extend a plea deal to four teenagers implicated in the brutal beating and subsequent death of a fellow classmate, a stance that has divided public sentiment and left a family grappling with the nuances of juvenile justice. According to News 3 LV, the deal will see Damian Hernandez, 18, Dontral Beaver, Gianni Robinson,17, and Treavion Randolph,16, evade an adult court trial by pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in juvenile court for the death of 17-year-old Jonathan Lewis.
The negotiation came as an abrupt surprise to Mellisa Ready, Lewis' mother who was initially assured by the DA's office that the accused would plead guilty to murder in the adult system and this revelation has left her not only "shocked and devastated" but also dumbfounded, after Ready disclosed her sentiments in an interview with News 3 LV. The DA's office stated that the information regarding the plea deal was indeed shared with the victim's mother prior to the proceeding; this was corroborated by multiple staff members who witnessed the conversation.
The choice to navigate the case back to juvenile court stems from a standpoint that the adult system may not effectively rehabilitate these young individuals but rather potentially ensnare them in a cycle of recidivism. David Tanenhaus, a specialist in juvenile justice at UNLV, explained the concept of "reverse waiver" in a virtual interview with 8 News Now, emphasizing that this shift back to juvenile jurisdiction could prevent the teens from acquiring the life-long label of felon and possibly, foster their integration back into society as productive citizens.
Robbery of childhood innocence and the erosion of potential commit in the form of a "melee," these were the circumstances that rendered the evidentiary basis for intense scrutiny and the eventual negotiation of the plea deal; the defendants’ attorney Robert Draskovich delineated to 8 News Now that the resolution of the case, while tragic, avoided the "second tragedy" of convicting the young men with murder. The Clark County District Attorney's Office, however, did not respond with specific plea terms details by publication time, as indicated in the same report by News 3 LV.
