Man who once faced death penalty could be out of prison soon

Already jailed more than 10 years for his role in a Las Vegas Valley slaying, Terrence Bowswer, who once faced the death penalty, could go free in less than two years.

He was first convicted in the death of John A. McCoy, a 60-year-old father gunned down on his way home from his job as a slot manager in Henderson, in 2007. He was eligible for the death penalty but instead was ordered to serve 40 years to life in prison, but that sentence was reversed.

Then, earlier this year during his second trial for McCoy's killing, a jury convicted Bowser, 29, on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

The jury also found Bowser guilty of discharging a firearm out of a motor vehicle and discharging a firearm at or into a structure, vehicle, aircraft or watercraft, while acquitting him on three separate conspiracy charges.

Bowser did not pull the trigger, but prosecutors argued that he went out with his friend, Jamar Green, with the intention of shooting someone.

McCoy, just a half-mile from home, was driving home from his shift at the Rainbow Club & Casino in January 2005 when Bowser and Green drove up alongside his car near Lone Mountain Road and Decatur Boulevard, right on the border of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas.

Green fired several rounds, striking McCoy and causing him to crash his vehicle into a wall.

In the 2007 trial, jurors asked for a demonstration of operating a shotgun. A bailiff showed the jury how the shotgun worked but did not inform the judge or lawyers what he did.

The Nevada Supreme Court overturned Bowser's first conviction, ruling that his constitutional rights had been violated at the original trial.

On Wednesday, District Judge Elissa Cadish ordered Bowser to serve 12 to 30 years in prison.

That would mean Bowser, who has been locked up since 2005, could be released sometime in 2017 if granted parole.

Defense lawyer Norm Reed said he plans to appeal the verdict, though he said the jury's decision showed that they "knew (Bowser) didn't plan this. They knew he wasn't the one who pulled the trigger."

During a penalty phase at his first trial, Bowser's lawyers detailed his background. His father, a drug user, was murdered when Bowser was 8.

Bowser was 19 at the time of McCoy's death. In deciding not to impose a death penalty, the original jury cited as mitigating factors Bowser's age and developmental immaturity, his father's death, his remorse for McCoy's death and the fact he was raised by a single parent in a crime-ridden neighborhood. Reed said Bowser was "mildly developmentally disabled."

Green, 22, pleaded guilty in early 2007 to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 34 years to life in prison.

Contact reporter David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker.