Retrial under way for suspect in slaying

Benito Zambrano-Lopez didn't have much chance of surviving the beating he suffered while he was trying to walk from his home to a grocery store that Sunday morning four years ago.

Before his attackers left him, one of them shot the 48-year-old father of seven in the back several times.

One of the suspects is getting a second chance in court thanks to erroneous instructions given to the jury that convicted him of murder and attempted robbery in 2004. Julius Bradford's conviction and sentence of 40 years to life were set aside when the Nevada Supreme Court ordered a new trial.

On Tuesday, the retrial of Bradford, 22, got under way with the testimony of a woman who said she heard Bradford talk about his participation in the slaying.

Chetique Vercher testified Tuesday she was with the three men after the killing. She said she heard Bradford recall how he told Tyrone Williams to shoot the victim after they had beaten him.

"It was supposed to be a robbery," she said.

Bradford, then 18, was with Williams, 16, and Steven Perry, 18, about 10:30 a.m. June 8, 2003, when they encountered Zambrano-Lopez on the sidewalk of the 1200 block of Tumbleweed Avenue, near Riverside Drive and North Rancho Drive.

Nearby, Tracy Jimenez was pushing her 2 1/2-year-old daughter in a stroller, Jimenez testified Tuesday.

Zambrano-Lopez had stepped aside on the sidewalk to let three men dressed in red and black pass, Jimenez said.

"They surrounded him. They started hitting him, kicking him, beating him up," Jimenez testified.

She said she saw Zambrano-Lopez try to defend himself. Then, one of the three men pulled out a gun and shot him three times, she testified.

At the time, police said they thought the attack was an attempt by trio to gain respect from their fellow members of the Rolling 60s gang.

In overturning the conviction, the Nevada Supreme Court justices chastised prosecutors for referring to gangs during the trial but said that did not factor into the decision to grant Bradford a new trial. The justices noted that Bradford's prior defense attorney had referred to gang membership during the first trial.

In the first trial, District Judge Michelle Leavitt had ordered that no gang affiliation evidence could be introduced because it would prejudice the jury against Bradford. The Supreme Court ruling warned the lower court it had better abide by that in the retrial.

Bradford's new defense attorney, Mace Yampolsky, said Bradford was "absolutely not" a gang member.

Bradford was merely "in the wrong place at the wrong time," Yampolsky said. Bradford was set to travel to Texas, where his brother lived, the week after the shooting and was lined up to join the Army, Yampolsky said.

On the morning of the shooting, Bradford, Williams and Perry had gone to an AM PM convenience store to buy cigarettes, and as they walked back to where Bradford was living, they encountered Zambrano-Lopez, Yampolsky said.

No robbery attempt occurred, but Williams started a fight with Zambrano-Lopez, and when he saw Williams losing, Bradford joined the fray, Yampolsky told jurors.

"He was helping a friend, and yes he did hit Mr. Zambrano-Lopez a couple of times," the defense lawyer said.

Bradford was not the triggerman, Yampolsky said.

Williams and Perry are serving sentences of 40 years to life after being convicted of attempted robbery and murder of Zambrano-Lopez.