State high court upholds murder conviction in 2003 case

CARSON CITY -- A gang member sentenced to 40 years in prison for his part in a 2003 Las Vegas killing has lost a Nevada Supreme Court appeal.

The high court rejected the appeal from Julius Bradford, a Rolling 60s gang member who was convicted for his role in the slaying of Benito Zambrano-Lopez, who was beaten and shot multiple times.

According to court records, Bradford and two other men confronted the victim as he walked home from a grocery store, and beat him. Prosecutors said the three planned to rob Zambrano-Lopez, a 48-year-old laborer, and one of the men with Bradford shot Zambrano-Lopez when he resisted.

Justices rejected Bradford's arguments that there was insufficient evidence against him and that the trial judge erred in giving instructions to jurors and in admitting evidence of prior bad acts.

Justices also upheld the murder conviction of a former Bullhead City, Ariz., man found guilty of robbing and killing a man he met at a gay bar in 2001.

Gregory Amato was sentenced in Las Vegas to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 41 years for the murder of Jimmie Ingle, 57. Ingle's bludgeoned body was found outside Laughlin.

In a third case, the Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction of Jemar Matthews, involved in a September 2006 shooting barrage in Las Vegas that killed Mercy Williams. Nearly 40 shell casings from three different weapons were found at the scene.