Judge sentences Ammar Harris to death for Strip shooting that left 3 dead — VIDEO
A judge sentenced Ammar Harris to death Monday for killing three people and injuring another on the Strip.
Harris was also sentenced to 16 to 40 years in prison on related charges.
In November, a jury found 10 aggravating factors that contributed to his punishment and no mitigating circumstances that should have spared his life.
The same jury convicted Harris of 11 charges, including three counts of first-degree murder for the February 2013 slayings. Harris refused to appear in court for the three days of testimony and argument during a penalty hearing, and he declined to speak at Monday's sentencing.
Prosecutors said Harris pulled alongside Kenneth Cherry Jr.'s car on the Strip and fired a bullet that plowed through the 27-year-old's vital organs, killing him. Cherry's Maserati then slammed into a taxi, causing an explosion that killed driver Michael Boldon, 62, and his passenger, Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, 48, a mother of three from Washington. A passenger in Cherry's Maserati suffered a minor gunshot wound.
Tehran Boldon, the cabdriver's brother who has followed Harris through court since his arrest, wept outside of court after the hearing.
"I thought I was going to get the closure I wanted," Boldon said. "But (Harris) is going to be alive for a few years."
He pulled out a copy of the Las Vegas Review-Journal that featured a front-page story about the death penalty in Nevada. Boldon called for quicker construction of a new execution chamber in Nevada, pointing out that convicted killers linger on death row for decades.
The original chamber at the now-closed Nevada State Prison in Carson City could be used if an execution was set, but it probably would face legal challenges on several grounds, including accessibility.
The 2015 Legislature approved $858,000 to build an execution chamber at Ely, but it is at least two years away from completion.
"The death penalty meant nothing to him ... I think (Harris) should be put down," Boldon said. "There's is no innocence in that man in there. No remorse."
Boldon said the rest of his family still struggles with their loss.
"I miss my brother every day," Boldon said. "I look in the mirror, and I see him."
— Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker
