Girlfriend of accused testifies about 2013 Strip shooting, fiery crash

Yenesis Alfonso testified Monday that she never heard anyone threaten her boyfriend, Ammar Harris, before he fired his gun out the window of his Range Rover the morning of Feb. 21, 2013.

Harris, a self-described pimp, faces murder and other charges in connection with the shooting and a fiery crash that killed three people on the Strip that morning.

Alfonso, 24, said she, Harris and two other women had entered the Range Rover after leaving the Haze Nightclub at the Aria. She said she was riding in the passenger seat while Harris drove with his gun on his lap.

At one point, Alfonso testified, Harris cut in front of a Maserati. She said he then pulled up next to the Maserati, which was on their right, at a red light.

Alfonso said she recognized the driver of the Maserati as Kenneth "Kenny" Clutch Cherry Jr. and told Harris he was not the same person he had argued with at the nightclub. She said she reclined her seat and lowered her window at Harris' request and heard him ask the other man, "What's popping?" or "What's up?"

The witness said Cherry responded by asking, "Do I know you?"

Alfonso said she then heard a shot go off. She said Harris had fired his gun over her, and her ears were ringing. He then sped away on Las Vegas Boulevard.

"I was on the floor at first and then I got back up on the seat," Alfonso said.

She said she thought she heard two more gunshots but did not hear the collision or explosion that followed.

Prosecutors have described the shooting as a case of mistaken identity; a lawyer for Harris has said he was acting in self-defense.

Cherry, also a pimp, was struck once and died. A passenger in Cherry's car was grazed by a bullet.

The Maserati crashed into a taxicab, which exploded in flames, killing the cabdriver, Michael Boldon, and his passenger, Sandra Sutton-Wasmund.

Alfonso said she and Harris returned to their residence and fell asleep. Later that morning, she checked her cellphone for news about the incident and learned that three people had died.

She said the couple soon left for Los Angeles, but when her picture appeared in national news media, Harris told her to return home to Miami. She said he never told her why he shot Cherry.

Harris was later arrested by a team of FBI agents and police at an apartment in Studio City in Los Angeles.

When asked to describe the feelings she had for Harris, Alfonso told jurors, "I was in love with him." She also said she thought she was pregnant at the time.

Alfonso, who had criminal charges pending against her before the shooting, later negotiated a plea agreement with prosecutors and agreed to testify at Harris' trial. As part of the deal, she pleaded guilty to a felony charge of possession of a stolen vehicle and two misdemeanors: petit larceny and solicitation for prostitution.

She is awaiting sentencing, but she said her felony could be reduced to a misdemeanor if she successfully completes probation.

Seven months after the Strip shooting, Harris was found guilty of raping and robbing a woman in June 2010. District Judge Kathleen Delaney, who also is overseeing the murder trial, ordered Harris to serve 16 years to life in prison on three counts of sexual assault and one count of robbery.

Earlier this year, Delaney added an extra two to five years to Harris' sentence for a scheme to smuggle cellphones into High Desert State Prison.

Harris, 29, could faced the death penalty if convicted in the murder case.

— Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710. Find her on Twitter: @CarriGeer