Mother ‘dumbfounded’ after teens reach deal in fatal beating of Rancho student

The mother of a 17-year-old Rancho High School student who was fatally beaten by a group of teenagers said Thursday that she was not told about a deal extended to four of the defendants charged with murder.

Those four will no longer face murder charges as adults, after each one agreed on Thursday to enter a plea to voluntary manslaughter in Juvenile Court.

“I’m just so dumbfounded and hurt and confused,” Mellisa Ready, Jonathan Lewis’ mother, said in a brief phone interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I don’t even know what’s going on, and I should know.”

Treavion Randolph, 16, Dontral Beaver, 16, Damien Hernandez, 18, and Gianni Robinson, 17, will be sent back to Juvenile Court and will face an undetermined length of imprisonment in a juvenile detention center, attorneys announced Thursday during a hearing in front of District Judge Tierra Jones.

The teens initially faced second-degree murder and conspiracy charges as four of the nine teenagers arrested in connection with Lewis’ death, after he was attacked on Nov. 1 outside Rancho High School.

Ready told the Review-Journal that the district attorney’s office did not inform her that a deal was being reached. She was not at Thursday’s court hearing, and said that she was told about the negotiations by news reporters after the hearing.

Ready has previously spoken out about her desire for the teenagers who admitted guilt in Juvenile Court to receive stricter punishments.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday morning. But in a statement sent to the Review-Journal, the district attorney’s office claimed that Ready was aware of the negotiations.

“While the District Attorney’s Office acknowledges the pain the victim’s mother is going through as she mourns the loss of her son, the negotiation was accurately conveyed to her last week, prior to the court proceeding,” the statement said. “The conversation was witnessed by multiple DA personnel.”

The statement said attorneys negotiated the case after considering the “potential legal challenges the State faced.”

“Ultimately, the State determined the juvenile court was best equipped to punish the defendants for their heinous conduct while also attempting to rehabilitate them,” the statement said.

During Thursday’s court hearing, Chief Deputy District Attorney John Giordani told the judge that if any of the defendants rescind on the deal, all four teenagers will again face charges as adults.

“If for any reason it does not work out down in Juvenile Court or someone backs out, the offer is contingent on everyone’s acceptance,” Giordani said.

Investigators have said that Lewis was attacked by a group of up to 10 teenagers in an alleyway near the school. The fatal beating was captured on video that showed the teens stomping, kicking and punching Lewis until he fell unconscious.

Lewis died of his injuries six days later.

Surveillance footage showed that Lewis pushed a student, who was one of the teens later arrested, and then punched another student before he was swarmed by the group of teenagers. Defense attorneys have argued in court documents that Lewis’ friend, who also was attacked, was armed with a knife during the confrontation.

Five other teenagers who were arrested, one as young as 13, remained in the juvenile court system because of their age. Four of those juveniles have admitted guilt to a voluntary manslaughter charge in the juvenile system. Police arrested nine of the 10 teenagers shortly after Lewis was killed. A 10th suspect has not been identified or arrested.

Children adjudicated guilty in the juvenile court system are not sentenced to remain in custody for a set amount of time, but will instead be released after completing rehabilitation programs while in custody, Brigid Duffy, the director of the Clark County district attorney’s office’s juvenile division, has previously said.

Defense attorney Edward Miley said he has a client with an open case still in Juvenile Court.

“Now that the kids downtown are coming back to juvie, we anticipate all the cases may get wrapped up together,” Miley said Thursday.

Attorney Karen Connolly, who represents Hernandez, said in an emailed statement that her client was a “relatively minor participant” in the attack, but that he “deeply regrets his involvement in the melee which resulted in Jonathan’s unfortunate death and is ready and willing to accept the consequences.”

Defense attorney Robert Draskovich, who represents Robinson, said he expects to argue for his client to receive some credit for time already served in custody.

“We don’t anticipate this being on my client’s record as an adult,” Draskovich said Thursday.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.