Beating defendant gets new trial

One of the defendants sentenced in connection with a nationally publicized beating outside a Strip resort is getting a new trial.

Asryen Brown and his lawyers were upset with the two- to five-year prison sentence Senior District Judge James A. Brennan gave Brown last month, so they complained to District Judge David Barker. Brennan had been substituting for Barker when he sentenced Brown for his role in the 2006 Easter weekend swarm beating of MGM Grand exterior maintenance supervisor Richard Markwell Jr.

Brown, 19, had struck an agreement with prosecutors last year to plead guilty to one count of battery with substantial bodily harm. In exchange for the guilty plea and his cooperation with prosecutors, other charges were dropped.

Brown expected to avoid prison time after he testified for the prosecution of one of his co-defendants. But Brown and his attorneys were surprised when Brennan opted to give Brown the maximum penalty allowed for the charge.

Defense attorneys, Dan Bunin and Dayvid Figler were back before Barker on Monday, arguing Brennan exceeded his authority by imposing the sentence and asking Barker to honor the negotiated deal and give Brown probation.

According to the plea agreement, prosecutors Noreen Nyikos and Victoria Villegas promised not to argue against probation for Brown at his sentencing. They fulfilled that commitment.

They emphasized Monday that the plea agreement stated that the judge had the final discretion to sentence Brown appropriately.

"It (the deal) was not binding upon the court so Judge Brennan exercised his right not to go along with the parties' recommendation," Villegas said.

She declined to comment on her opinion of Brennan's sentence.

Villegas and Nyikos pointed out that when another district judge accepted Brown's plea last year, she asked him multiple times if he understood that the judge could sentence him to up to five years in prison, and Brown said he understood.

"There is no legal basis to unwind Judge Brennan's sentence," Nyikos said.

Barker decided to allow Brown a new trial on the three charges he had been facing prior to the plea agreement -- conspiracy to commit battery, which is a gross misdemeanor, and two felonies, including battery with substantial bodily harm and coercion.

"We are back to square one on Mr. Brown's behalf," Barker said.

On Friday, Barker is to hear arguments about whether Brown will be allowed to remain out of custody on bail while awaiting trial and if so what the bail amount should be.

Brown, whose lawyers said he went to police and gave a statement before they knew he was a suspect, can be seen on the widely broadcast MGM security surveillance video beating Markwell, then 23, with a belt. The beating left Markwell with a permanently disabled right arm.

Markwell and his parents attended the sentencings of each of the eight defendants charged in the MGM beating and other crimes that were conducted by related groups of young people throughout the valley during the same weekend.

The Markwell family said they'll be at Brown's trial, which probably will be in October.

"He did beat my son so he deserves to get what the other guys (defendants) got," said Richard Markwell Sr., Markwell's father. "I hope he gets more now."

Six of the other defendants received a range of prison sentences, but the seventh, Daryle Williams, received probation. According to police, he didn't hit Markwell but punched a nearby security guard then fled toward the MGM parking lot while a group of his friends and associates beat Markwell.