Man accused in fatal Strip shooting, crash goes to trial

Jurors who will hear opening statements Thursday are expected to see video of a 2013 confrontation on the Strip that led to a shooting and fiery crash that killed three people.

The capital murder trial for self-described pimp Ammar Harris is expected to last several weeks. Attorneys selected a panel of 16 jurors, including four alternates.

Harris, 29, faces three counts of murder with use of a deadly weapon, one count of attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon, two counts of discharging a firearm into a vehicle, and five counts of discharging a firearm out of a vehicle. If convicted, he faces the death penalty.

Authorities have said Harris was driving a Range Rover on Las Vegas Boulevard on Feb. 21, 2013, when he stopped at a red light next to a Maserati driven by another pimp named Kenneth "Kenny" Clutch Cherry Jr.

The two exchanged words.

Harris became angry with Cherry, 27, and fired at least five rounds from the driver's seat of his Range Rover at Cherry's Maserati on Las Vegas Boulevard near Flamingo Road.

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

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

Defense lawyers for Harris have said they plan to argue self-defense in the murder trial.

After the shooting, Harris fled Las Vegas, sparking a multistate manhunt. He was later arrested by a team of FBI agents and police at an apartment in Studio City in Los Angeles.

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.

That verdict was significant for prosecutors, who planned to use the convictions as aggravating factors when seeking capital punishment against the defendant.

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

The Nevada Attorney General's office has said that cell phones and other contraband were found inside Harris' prison cell.

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