Man found guilty of 2005 slaying

A jury on Thursday found a 22-year-old man who took part in a deadly drive-by shooting guilty of first-degree murder.

Terrence Bowser faces a potential death sentence in the 2005 slaying of John A. McCoy, 60.

The jury will begin the penalty hearing for Bowser today in District Judge Lee Gates' courtroom.

McCoy was driving to his northwest Las Vegas home from his shift at the Rainbow Club & Casino when Bowser, driving his 1988 Lincoln Town Car, and his friend Jamar Green drove up alongside McCoy near Lone Mountain Road and Decatur Boulevard.

According to Las Vegas police, the two wanted to find out what it feels like to kill someone, an allegation that Bowser has disputed.

Green fired a shotgun at McCoy, hitting him and causing him to crash his vehicle into a wall, the report said.

McCoy died later at University Medical Center.

Green, 22, pleaded guilty in May to first-degree murder and other charges in Gates' courtroom.

The judge sentenced him to 34 years to life in prison in July.

Bowser was scheduled to plead guilty to first-degree murder also in July and receive a sentence of 28 years to life, according to the prosecutor and defense attorney.

But that deal fell through.

At his plea hearing, Bowser rebutted the allegations and told Gates he did not set out that night to kill anyone, but only intended to shoot into a car. He said he aided and abetted Green.

The attorneys in the case declined to comment on the trial until after the penalty hearing.

Defense attorneys Norm Reed and Andrea Luem had argued that because Bowser had no intent to kill anyone that night, he could not be guilty of first-degree murder.

The jury found Bowser guilty of six counts, two of which are gross misdemeanors.