Thursday, April 10, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
As a 16-year-old, John Melcher escaped a prison term -- and even an adult record -- for his role in a murder during a traffic altercation on U.S. 95.
He had two years to get his life straightened out, but he didn't do it and was told Wednesday that he will be spending the next two years in the same prison system where he helped put two other people.
Melcher pleaded guilty in February to trying to run down a North Las Vegas police officer, who was trying to apprehend him for driving a stolen car.
It was just a continuation of a drug-driven criminal lifestyle that began years before and has left him with a sizeable juvenile record.
At his sentencing Wednesday, Melcher did not ask for leniency, stating, "I understand I deserve punishment."
But his attorney, Patricia Erickson, did ask that Melcher be given one last chance to get counseling she said he never has received and change his behavior.
"We as a society shouldn't just throw away an 18-year-old," Erickson said, in asking that he be sent to prison only for a 120-day evaluation before actual sentencing.
But District Judge Lee Gates rejected that idea, sentencing the teenager to two to six years behind bars.
Melcher actually had his big break two years ago when he escaped murder charges by becoming a key witness against two men in two different murders.
His testimony helped get Kevin Lisle, 26, two death sentences and Jerry Lopez a life prison term.
They are both in the Nevada prison system, where Melcher will be going.
His involvement with Lisle in the October 1994 shooting death of Kip Logan over a traffic run-in on U.S. 95 at Valley View Boulevard was what put him behind bars as a murder suspect. But his cooperation got him a term of probation in Juvenile Court.
Then he turned 18 and moved into the big time on Nov. 28 when he was caught driving a stolen car and attempted to run down the North Las Vegas Police officer trying to apprehend him.
To stop Melcher from hitting him or fleeing, the officer had to fire a shot that went through the driver's side window. The bullet narrowly missed Melcher and he immediately surrendered.
Melcher pleaded guilty to a charge of assault with a deadly weapon.
In the plea, Melcher did not admit responsibility but did concede that the district attorney's office could prove its case. As part of the plea bargain the district attorney's office dropped attempted murder and auto theft charges. Melcher also agreed to pay for damage to the car, which had been stolen from a Clark County firefighter.
In addition to being a witness in the Logan slaying, Melcher testified against both Lisle and Lopez over the slaying of Justin Lusch, the son of former North Las Vegas Police Chief Ron Lusch.
Melcher named Lisle, a heavily tattooed ex-convict, as the one who fired a bullet into Logan's head as he drove along the freeway.
Logan's murder had occurred two months after 19-year-old Justin Lusch was gunned down on a dusty road in northwest Las Vegas in an execution style slaying.
The motive, according to trial testimony, may have been that Lusch owed Lisle and Lopez, also 26, money for a small quantity of methamphetamine. There also was the story that Lusch simply was perceived by them to be "a snitch."
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