Judge sets $500,000 bail for 2 men accused of shooting Metro officer

A judge set bail at $500,000 on Friday for two men accused of shooting a Metro officer last week.

Clemon Hudson, 20, and Steven Turner, 24, face two counts each of attempted murder, and one count each of conspiracy to commit battery with a deadly weapon, firing a gun into a structure, burglary while in possession of a weapon and conspiracy to commit burglary.

Officer Jeremy Robertson, 37, was shot in his upper right leg and officer Malik Grego-Smith, 35, shot Turner in the left calf.

Dayvid Figler, a defense lawyer who represents Hudson, had asked Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Ann Zimmerman for a $50,000 bail, saying his client had no criminal history.

Figler said prosecutors told him after the bail hearing that they intend to take the case to a grand jury, which would decide in a closed hearing whether prosecutors have enough evidence to take the charges to trial.

"I'm disappointed that they're going to go the grand jury," he said. "They want to continue to use this incendiary language of bloodbath and ambush when none of that is going to be proved at the end of the day. A public hearing would have been a better forum to determine whether this case should be part of the bigger discussion (regarding police shootings). If this is such a case of public import and everything is the way the District Attorney says it is, then why not make it a public proceeding."

In the predawn hours of Sept. 4, officers responded to a home in the 6700 block of Oveja Circle, near the intersection of Alta Drive and Rainbow Boulevard, where Las Vegas police said a 911 caller reported armed men in the backyard.

Police have said Turner was armed with an SKS semi-automatic carbine rifle and Hudson with a 12-gauge shotgun.

At a news conference earlier this week, police said they thought there may have been a third person involved but later learned that was not the case.

The officers arrived at the home and were walking out the back door when someone opened fire, police said.

Robertson was taken to University Medical Center where he underwent surgery and is expected to make a full recovery. He is a 14-year Metro veteran.

Grego-Smith has been with Metro since August 2008. He works for Metro's Community Policing Division for the northwest area command and has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the review of the incident.

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