Las Vegas man pleads guilty in teen’s 2009 shooting death

A 31-year-old Las Vegas man pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder for his role in a shooting that left 16-year-old Aric Brill dead more than a decade ago.

Arthur Moore is the second man who pleaded guilty in Brill’s slaying, which went unsolved for years. Two others are awaiting trial.

As part of a negotiation with prosecutors, Moore could be sentenced to as many as 40 years behind bars at a hearing in May.

For about seven years, while her son’s case remained unsolved, Karen Brill-Kelley would call police at least twice a year, checking for developments. Authorities have said her persistence kept the once-cold case on their radar.

Brill was attacked and shot in the back of the head in 2009 outside a house party on Beesley Drive, near Charleston and Nellis boulevards.

Witnesses told police at the time that a male approached Brill and another victim, pulled out two handguns and shot them. The other victim survived.

Police have said the shooting was a random act of violence motivated by a robbery and was gang-related.

Since Moore, Nadin Hiko, Devonte Wash and Davon Sebastian Phillips were charged in 2016, Brill-Kelley has met with prosecutors as the cases worked through the legal system. Hiko pleaded guilty and was sent to prison last year.

In Moore’s case, Brill-Kelley said she has met face-to-face with him twice as his lawyers tried to work out a deal with prosecutors behind closed doors.

Defense attorney Ozzie Fumo said Moore was remorseful.

“He wasn’t the same person he was the night he was at that party,” Fumo said. “He prayed on it, and he was willing to accept responsibility for his actions that night.”

Along with second-degree murder, Moore also pleaded guilty Tuesday to robbery and conspiracy charges. Brill-Kelley said she was frustrated to learn in court on Tuesday that the conspiracy conviction would not add to Moore’s time in prison.

She walked out of the courtroom saying, “That’s not what I agreed to.”

The minimum sentence Moore could receive is 12 to 30 years, while his maximum sentence would be 16 to 40 years, according to prosecutors.

Brill-Kelley said she looks forward to the day, possibly later this year, when the cases against Wash and Phillips, both 29, are resolved. Both are due back in court next month.

“When I left (court) I was upset, because I know what the agreement was, but I definitely felt better the further I drove away from the courthouse,” Brill-Kelley said in a phone interview after the plea hearing. “I’m glad that finally there’s going to be an end to this. We’re all grateful. No family ever gets what they want with this. Other families this happened to, they would want more, too. I feel calm, and I really feel peaceful right now.”

Brill’s killers got away with $20 and a broken cellphone. At the time he was shot, he carried a list of books he wanted to read and things he hoped to accomplish. He would have turned 26 earlier this year.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.