New Las Vegas trial starts for man on overturned murder conviction

Mercy Williams was caught in a hail of gunfire, an innocent victim of bullets meant for someone else, a prosecutor said Wednesday, almost 12 years after Williams died.

Jemar Matthews, who spent nearly a dozen years of a life sentence behind bars after being convicted in the killing, also had no connection to the shooting, his defense attorneys argued at his new trial.

Matthews was arrested in connection with the killing after he ran from authorities in the same neighborhood northwest of downtown Las Vegas, which defense attorney Richard Tanasi said was coincidental.

“Mr. Matthews sits before you accused, innocently, simply because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Tanasi told jurors in opening statements.

Matthews claims he had feared reprimand for violating a temporary restraining order that prevented him from being within a certain distance of the mother of his son. When he noticed the heavy police presence in the neighborhood, he said, he ran because he was at a house two doors down from the woman.

But Chief Deputy District Attorney Agnes Lexis said Matthews was found hiding in a grassy area, matching the description of the gunman, with gunshot residue found on his hands. Matthews also dropped a red knit glove that contained gunshot residue and was found nearby, according to the prosecutor.

“The defendant, he wasn’t in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Lexis said. “The evidence will show he was one of those armed men who snuck up and ambushed these people and shot 39 times, not caring who they took out along the way.”

Williams, 22, had been celebrating her upcoming birthday with three other people, including two cousins, one of whom suffered a gunshot wound to the left wrist.

Matthews, who is black, was convicted of murder and 11 other counts in 2007 after a Clark County prosecutor told 12 white jurors to look at him and his co-defendant. She then asked jurors if they looked innocent.

Matthews was sentenced to life in prison, and he fought to overturn his conviction for years.

Last year, a federal judge found prosecutorial errors in the first trial for Matthews, now 31, and another black man, Pierre Joshlin. In a closing argument to jurors, then-prosecutor Linda Lewis said of the defendants: “How innocent do they look to you? Take a look over there. How innocent do they look?”

U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro called Lewis’ comments “plainly improper,” saying Matthews was deprived of a fair trial. Lewis has said her comments were taken out of context.

The decision could have resulted in Matthews’ release last year, but prosecutors decided to retry him on the same charges. Joshlin also was convicted in 2007, and that verdict stands.

The new jury, which includes a black man, heard testimony from two of Williams’ cousins who were with her when she was killed Sept. 30, 2006, near Balzar Avenue and Lexington Street. Jurors also heard from a man and woman who said they were the victims of a carjacking the same day. None of the witnesses identified Matthews directly, but they described a black man who was dressed in a dark shirt and dark pants or shorts.

Another of Matthews’ defense attorneys, Todd Leventhal, tried to point out inconsistencies in the statements of one of Williams’ cousins, who gave different descriptions of the clothing the gunman wore.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.