Seventh youth sentenced in MGM beating

Richard Markwell Jr. is sick of coming to the courthouse.

The 24-year-old MGM employee made headlines in 2006 when the casino's surveillance video of black teens beating him near an MGM parking garage was broadcast nationally.

Markwell and his parents have been to the majority of court appearances for the eight defendants charged with crimes related to the Easter weekend crime spree in which a group of youths committed robberies, beatings and one shooting across the Valley.

On Tuesday, Markwell spoke at the case's second-to-last sentencing in District Court and said he was embarrassed to have to continue filling the role of the victim at these hearings.

District Judge James Bixler sentenced 18-year-old Dexter Smith Jr. to three to 10 years in prison for his participation in the beating of Markwell and other crimes.

Markwell said he hopes Smith will "have to deal with the type of pain I've had to."

"It wouldn't make me happy, but it'd be just," Markwell added.

The final defendant is Asryen Brown, who took a plea deal to get probation in exchange for testifying against other defendants.

He took the stand in Jamar Lamont Rice's trial. Rice was found guilty of nine felonies and two gross misdemeanors for crimes committed that weekend.

But prosecutor Victoria Villegas has said she believes Brown didn't fulfill his end of the bargain, so she hopes to get a harsher penalty for him at his July 23rd sentencing.

Markwell said he was pleased with Bixler's sentence for Smith.

A dozen of Smith's relatives and friends, however, left the courtroom in tears as Markwell's family was escorted to the elevators by a bailiff.

Smith pleaded guilty in April before Bixler to five felonies and acknowledged that he struck Markwell and stole his Nextel radio.

"He was the first person seen (on the surveillance video) and in his last act he was stomping on the victim's head," Villegas said.

The beating left Markwell, a baseball coach, with a permanently disabled right arm.

"You sat there and beat my son like he was a dog," Richard Markwell Sr. said to Smith.

At his April hearing, Smith said he also was involved in the beating of Josue Medrano at a North Las Vegas Wal-Mart on West Craig Road.

Medrano, the store's assistant manager, had previously testified he came out of the store to break up the crowd of young people in the parking lot when he was attacked.

Smith also admitted to stealing the purse of a woman who was trying to call police for help at the Wal-Mart and said he was involved in the attack on a tourist at a Travelodge at Tropicana Avenue and Koval Lane shortly after the MGM beating.

According to court records, the tourist, Edwin Janaslani of Glendale, Ariz., had been driving his children to Utah and had stopped at the motel to rest for the night. He awoke to the sound of a party outside his room, and about 3 a.m., when he went outside to smoke a cigarette, he was attacked. One of the men broke a beer bottle over his head, he said.

Villegas said another attacker broke Janaslani's nose. After the beating Janaslani packed up his children in the middle of the night and drove all the way to St. George, before stopping to get medical attention.

Dexter Smith's defense attorney, William Horne, asked for probation for Smith, contrasting his case with that of his brother, 19-year-old Demarcus Smith, who received a four- to 20-year sentence for his role in the weekend crime spree.

Horne emphasized Demarcus Smith was involved in a shooting at Pioneer Park and Dexter Smith was not.

Horne also described Dexter Smith as an honor student prior to his arrest.

After spending a year in the county jail, Dexter Smith was released in April after posting $50,000 bail. He then earned his high school diploma, got a full-time job and has volunteered with his church every weekend, Horne said.

"Sending him to prison, the state will gain nothing," Horne said.