A grieving Las Vegas mother has been left “shocked and in shock” after four attackers who were caught on camera beating her son to death have agreed to plea deals.
Melissa Ready lost her 17-year-old son Jonathan Lewis after he was attacked by a group of teenagers and stomped unconscious before dying a week later.
Dontral Beaver, 16, Damian Hernandez, 18, Treavion Randolph, 16, and Gianni Robinson were charged with her murder after being charged as adults in January.
On Thursday, it was announced that all had accepted a plea deal that will allow them to plead guilty as juveniles to murder.
That case would be heard in juvenile court, and all four would face indeterminate prison terms in a juvenile detention center.
If any of the teens back out of the agreement, all four will be charged again in adult court, said Chief Deputy District Attorney John Giordani.
Talking with 8newsnowReady expressed his displeasure after the plea deal was announced and said all four should be tried as adults.
Jonathan Lewis, 17, died in hospital days after being brutally attacked by a group of 15 other teenagers on November 1.
Damien Hernandez, 17 (left), and Treavion Randolph, 16 (right), have been charged with murder as adults.
Hernandez, top left, Randolph, top right, Beaver, bottom left, and Robinson, bottom right, all accepted plea deals.
Ready told the outlet: ‘You can’t jump inside a human being’s head, stomp on it and expect it to live.
‘They knew he was going to die, and that’s how I feel, and they’re letting them get away with it after committing the murder.
‘I was told they would plead guilty to murder and the most they would get in the adult system would be two years.
“I would not agree with the agreement at all. They should be held accountable as adults: they made an adult decision.”
She added that the prosecutors’ actions had left her “shocked” and “dumbfounded.”
The fatal attack on Lewis took place outside Rancho High School in Las Vegas on November 1 of last year.
Videos of the attack show a group of teenagers punching, kicking and stomping Lewis until he was unconscious, leading to his death a week later.
Of the nine teenagers arrested, four others, including a 13-year-old boy, pleaded guilty in juvenile court to voluntary manslaughter.
Las Vegas authorities said the students agreed to meet in the alley to fight over a vape pen and wireless headphones that had been stolen from a friend of Lewis’s.
Lewis was hospitalized with severe head trauma and other injuries and died a week later.
Lewis is seen here being trampled by the group as he tries to defend himself from the assault, before being knocked unconscious.
Footage obtained by 8 News Now shows Lewis being carried to safety by a student and a neighbor back to the high school after the savage attack.
Images obtained by 8 News Now It shows Lewis being carried to safety by a student and a neighbor back to the high school after the savage attack.
Defense attorney Robert Draskovich, who represents Robinson, called the fight a tragedy but said sentencing all four as adults would have been a second tragedy.
On Thursday, he said: “This plea agreement will allow my client to graduate from high school, move on with his life and become a productive citizen.”
Draskovich said he would ask at sentencing that Robinson be released from custody with credit for time already served.
Last November, flowers were left at the site with a touching message on one of the bouquets reading: “You are a hero!”
In a statement, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson acknowledged Lewi’s mother’s comments and “the pain she is going through as she mourns the loss of her son.”
He added that he was briefed on the terms of the negotiations last week before defending the resolution of the case.
The statement notes that the juvenile court “is better equipped to punish defendants for their egregious conduct” while also offering rehabilitation.
In Nevada, a teenager faces a murder charge You can be charged as an adult if they were 13 years old or older when the crime occurred.