Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Teens plead innocent in 311 Boyz attack; one's words offend victim's mom

Four teens charged in the 311 Boyz case sit Tuesday in District Court during their arraignment. From left to right in the back row are Christopher Farley, Steven Gazlay, Scott Morse and Dominic Harriman. In front, from left to right, are defense attorneys Brian Fisher and Lew Wolfbrandt. Photo by Gary Thompson. Jeff Hart appears at his District Court arraignment in the 311 Boyz case. He and other teens are charged in a July attack that seriously injured Stephen Tanner Hansen. Photo by Gary Thompson.

One of the most visible defendants in the 311 Boyz case said Tuesday he has been unfairly linked to the youth gang.

Steven Gazlay, who has conducted numerous interviews with local media, said reporters labeled him a member of the group simply because he was present the night Stephen Tanner Hansen was maimed by a rock thrown as he fled 311 Boyz members.

If presence was enough to establish membership, then one could argue that Hansen also was a member of the gang, Gazlay said after he and his co-defendants pleaded innocent in the attack.

"Prior to this whole thing happening, Tanner was hanging out with a few kids accused of this. Chris Farley was one of them," Gazlay said. "If we are 311 gang members, then Tanner is supposedly a 311 member."

Hansen's mother on Tuesday said Gazlay's comment was offensive.

"I'm not going to respond to that," Carma Mahn said.

Hansen's civil attorney, Jerome Bowen, concurred.

"Obviously, desperate people will say desperate things," Bowen said.

Statements witnesses gave police and a grand jury indicate Hansen did not associate with those accused of attacking him at a July party in the exclusive Canyon Terrace.

Hansen and other witnesses have said he was uncomfortable being at the party with 311 Boyz members because he believed they did not like him.

"I really don't wanna go to this. I bet a lot of these kids don't like me because, you know, my name has gotten around with them," Hansen told police he was thinking as he arrived at the party.

Also, witness Lindsae Gilbert told a grand jury that she and several friends, including Hansen, were at a park early on the night of the assault. She said Farley was present but that he avoided Hansen and his friends.

On Tuesday, eight of nine suspects charged with attempted murder and other charges in the attack on Hansen were arraigned before District Judge Michael Cherry.

They were Gazlay, Farley, Anthony Gallion, Dominic Harriman, Matt Costello, Scott Morse, Jeff Hart and Ernest Bradley Aguilar.

A ninth suspect, Brandon Gallion, was not in court because he is still in custody in the juvenile court system. His juvenile case stems from the videotaped beatings of two young men in northwest Las Vegas.

Six of the eight defendants who appeared in court Tuesday pleaded innocent. Two of the defendants, Aguilar and Costello, declined to enter pleas through their attorneys, who said their cases should be in the juvenile court system.

Cherry then entered innocent pleas on behalf of the two teens.

Of the nine teens charged in the attack, all but Hart and Brandon Gallion are free on $40,000 bond.

On Tuesday, Cherry did not address a prosecution request to raise bail to $500,000 for each of the suspects. Instead, he set a Sept. 26 hearing to address bail. Brandon Gallion is also scheduled to be arraigned on that date.

Hart, 17, faces a $40,000 bond in the District Court case. But should he make bond, he would not be released. Instead, he would be transferred to a juvenile facility.

That is because he has been charged as a juvenile with robbery and burglary in connection with a March incident in which a resident said a burglar held a gun to his head and put him a closet.

Attorney Sean Sullivan, who represents Hart, said the victim contacted police after seeing Hart's school yearbook photo in the Review-Journal.

Sullivan said the accusations regarding the house burglary are without merit. He told the judge his client has no prior criminal history and should be released on bail.

"He needs five credits to graduate (high school)," Sullivan said. "He's got orthodontist appointments, broken braces."

But prosecutor Christopher Laurent said Hart has been recorded on jail phones talking about fleeing the jurisdiction.

"He has formulated a plan to flee to Idaho and leave," Laurent told the judge.

"We hear he has no prior criminal history, yet he hit the big league on this one," the prosecutor said.

Cherry reserved ruling on bail in Hart's case until at least Sept. 26.

Following the arraignment, several defense attorneys criticized the way prosecutors have handled the case.

Defense attorney Lew Wolfbrandt, who represents Morse, questioned authorities' contention that the 311 Boyz are a gang.

Wolfbrandt noted that no suspects in the attack on Hansen face what is known as a gang enhancement.

Prosecutors file such enhancements in cases where they contend a crime was committed to promote the activities of a gang. In the event of a conviction, the enhancement doubles a defendant's sentence.

Wolfbrandt said he has been told by prosecutors that for now at least, they have no intention of pursuing a gang enhancement in the Hansen case.

"It means they can't prove this is a gang," Wolfbrandt said.

Prosecutors did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.