The Las Vegas teenagers accused of beating 17-year-old Jonathan Lewis to death in an alley near their high school claimed self-defense, saying the boy threw the first punch at a court hearing Thursday.
Four of the nine teens charged with Lewis’ murder appeared before Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Nadia Woods but did not receive bail as expected, with Woods instead saying she’d issue a written order on bond for each defendant next week, local CBS affiliate station KLAS reported.
The four teens — Damien Hernandez, 17; Gianni Robinson, 17; Dontral Beaver, 16; and Treavion Randolph, 16 — appeared in handcuffs and are being tried as adults for second-degree murder after they allegedly beat and stomped on Lewis’ head on Nov. 1 outside Rancho High School.
Lewis died of his injuries a week later.
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Their defense attorneys argued that the teens should not all receive the blanket $250,000 bond per defendant that the state had requested because some were more involved in the beating of Lewis than others and the dollar figure should reflect that, according to the local station.
They also said their clients acted in self-defense as Lewis started the fight and his friend had a knife, as previously reported by The Post.
The prosecutor acknowledged that Lewis threw the first punch, but said it still did not warrant the gruesome beating that he suffered as his mother sat in the courtroom crying, KLAS reported.
Five of the other teens arrested for Lewis’ murder are younger and the state is deciding whether to try them as adults or juveniles. A 10th “person of interest” remains at large.
