Nowsch and getaway driver make court appearance in Meyers slaying

Erich Nowsch and his accused getaway driver charged in the slaying of Tammy Meyers appeared in court together for the first time Thursday.

Derrick Andrews, 26, is accused of driving the silver Audi that Nowsch, 19, was riding in when Meyers, a 44-year-old mother of four, was shot in the head.

Andrews was indicted last week on charges of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and discharge of a firearm from or within a structure or vehicle, the same charges filed against Nowsch, the alleged gunman. During the same indictment, prosecutors also added a charge of conspiracy to commit murder against Nowsch, who has been in jail for a month. Nowsch pleaded not guilty to the additional charge Thursday. Andrews did not enter a plea.

Both are being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail.

Prosecutors said they could decide next week whether to seek the death penalty against Nowsch.

Meyers suffered a gunshot wound to the head Feb. 12 in a shootout in front of her home, a killing initially attributed to “road rage” before the messier facts became clear.

A prosecutor said the deadly chain of events started when Meyers saw Andrews’ car and mistakenly thought it was one that had bumped her car.

Nowsch’s defense lawyer, Conrad Claus, who has questioned the Meyers family’s version of events, told District Judge Michael Villani that they want “cell tower and/or GPS readings from all of the Meyers’ phones so we can know exactly what was going on the night in question.”

Nowsch told police he was in a park across the street from Johnson Junior High School Feb. 12 when he noticed a green car that seemed to be following him. He thought the car was carrying people who had threatened him and his family.

Nowsch called friends for help, according to police, then climbed into the Audi.

Meyers, who was in a green Buick Park Avenue, came up behind them and followed as they drove away, prosecutor David Stanton said.

Brandon Meyers was with his mother in the Buick at the time, and reported “seeing a bunch of flashes and loud sounds as a gun being shot towards us.”

Prosecutors said the shooting might have been a result of mistaken identity. Around 10 p.m. that night, Meyers was teaching her 15-year-old daughter, Kristal Meyers, to drive in the school’s parking lot.

After the 50-minute lesson was finished, a man driving a gray sedan swerved around their car, bumped into them, stepped out of his car and threatened to kill them, Kristal Meyers told a grand jury. That person was neither Nowsch nor Andrews, prosecutor David Stanton said.

Tammy Meyers then drove home and called for her son to help look for the man who had threatened her, according to grand jury testimony.

When Meyers spotted Andrews’ silver Audi, she believed it was the same car she encountered earlier and started to follow.

Nowsch was in the passenger seat of Andrews’ car with a Ruger .45-caliber handgun.

Meyers ultimately stopped her car in the street outside her home, where she was caught in a hail of 24 rounds from Nowsch’s gun, and died two days later, Stanton said.

Brandon Meyers returned fire with his own pistol but hit no one.

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