Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 16, 2006 23:37:10 GMT -5
Man spared death penalty for North Las Vegas shooting
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - A man convicted of murder for shooting a 9-year-old girl as she shielded an infant from stray bullets has been spared the death penalty.
A district court jury Friday sentenced Pascual Lozano to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the 2002 murder of 9-year-old Genesis Gonzalez.
Lozano, who will do his time in Nevada State Prison in Ely and must serve a minimum of 40 years, blew a kiss to his family as he left the courtroom.
The decision was welcome to both the Gonzalez and Lozano families, who have watched the trial and subsequent penalty hearing closely during the past three weeks.
"I was not in agreement to the death penalty because it would be another family in suffering, another mother and family in suffering like me," Genesis' mother, Noemy Estrada, said through an interpreter outside the courtroom. "I guess it was the best thing."
Jurors found Lozano, 26, guilty on Monday of the fatal shooting in a North Las Vegas courtyard as she protected a neighborhood infant from gunfire.
Prosecutors asked the jury to give Lozano the death sentence. They said Lozano was a member of the Donna Street Crips gang and was aiming at a rival gang member when he shot Gonzalez and her eight-year-old sister, who survived.
He was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to death but the conviction was reversed because of juror misconduct.
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, www.lvrj.com
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - A man convicted of murder for shooting a 9-year-old girl as she shielded an infant from stray bullets has been spared the death penalty.
A district court jury Friday sentenced Pascual Lozano to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the 2002 murder of 9-year-old Genesis Gonzalez.
Lozano, who will do his time in Nevada State Prison in Ely and must serve a minimum of 40 years, blew a kiss to his family as he left the courtroom.
The decision was welcome to both the Gonzalez and Lozano families, who have watched the trial and subsequent penalty hearing closely during the past three weeks.
"I was not in agreement to the death penalty because it would be another family in suffering, another mother and family in suffering like me," Genesis' mother, Noemy Estrada, said through an interpreter outside the courtroom. "I guess it was the best thing."
Jurors found Lozano, 26, guilty on Monday of the fatal shooting in a North Las Vegas courtyard as she protected a neighborhood infant from gunfire.
Prosecutors asked the jury to give Lozano the death sentence. They said Lozano was a member of the Donna Street Crips gang and was aiming at a rival gang member when he shot Gonzalez and her eight-year-old sister, who survived.
He was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to death but the conviction was reversed because of juror misconduct.
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, www.lvrj.com