Man held without bail in January fatal shooting in Henderson

A 23-year-old man charged in the January shooting death of another man walking down a Henderson street was ordered held without bail again Tuesday.

Eric Abasta was indicted in June on one count each of murder with a deadly weapon and attempted robbery with a deadly weapon. On Tuesday, a hearing was held on whether there was enough evidence to keep him in custody.

Prosecutor Nicole Cannizzaro asked District Judge Michael Villani not to grant Abasta bail, while his attorney, Michael Arroyo, said her arguments only showed probable cause.

“To deny him bail, there has to be more shown,” he said.

On the evening of Jan. 14, Kevin Farnsworth, 26, was talking to his sister on a cellphone while walking along Warm Springs Road just west of Arroyo Grande Boulevard, where he was killed, police said.

Farnsworth died of a gunshot wound to the torso, the Clark County coroner’s office has said.

Within days, investigators had asked for the public’s help finding witnesses or possible footage of the shooting.

On March 24, they found a 9 mm cartridge inside a silver four-door car registered to Abasta that was associated with the Henderson homicide, Cannizzaro said. Abasta’s cellphone also placed him 2 miles or less from the scene 30 minutes before the shooting.

Abasta is charged in the 23-count indictment along with two others, Mason Arney and James Arney, whose ages were not listed, in a string of armed robberies from Jan. 5 to March 24.

Abasta — a felon who pleaded guilty in 2016 to battery with substantial bodily harm and conspiracy to commit robbery — faces additional charges including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed firearm and grand larceny auto. Along with Farnsworth’s death, prosecutors said in the indictment that Abasta was tied to a series of attacks in which another man was shot and injured, a car was stolen and several people were robbed.

Mason Arney was charged with attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon, battery with use of a deadly weapon, robbery with use of a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery, in a March 23 attack. He was also charged with assault with a deadly weapon in a March 24 attack.

James Arney was charged with robbery, assault, conspiracy and grand larceny auto in a Jan. 26 attack in which a 2014 Mazda 6 was stolen.

“Clearly, there’s a lot of pieces to this puzzle, and I think the state has presented enough pieces of the puzzle to draw the picture for this court that there is proof evident and presumption great for the murder charge here,” Villani said.

In response, Abasta spoke to the judge directly.

“She’s presenting all this evidence for no reason, because none of it ties me to anything. None of it. It’s all hearsay,” he said.

“That’s why we have jury trials,” Villani responded. “I’ve made this sufficient finding at this point.”

As of Tuesday, Mason Arney was being held on a $100,000 bail, according to court records. James Arney remained out of custody.

Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5244. Follow @ByBrianaE on Twitter.