Jury selection resumes for 2 men accused in 2009 shooting death of 9-year-old girl

By Dave Toplikar

Monday, April 16, 2012 | 12:30 p.m.

A fifth day of jury selection was continuing today for the trial of two North Las Vegas gang members who face the death penalty in connection with the 2009 shooting death of 9-year-old Savannah Bullins.

Both men, Kenneth Reid Jr., 23, and Marcus Larry, 30, were dressed in coats and ties as the proceedings continued today in Clark County District Court.

Susan Burke, one of Reid’s attorneys, said before today’s selection process began that Judge James Bixler planned to seat a total panel of 36 jurors and alternates. As of Monday morning, 20 jurors had been selected during the first four days of the voir dire process.

Burke said the selection process would probably continue through Wednesday before opening arguments in the trial begin.

The girl was killed about 10:45 p.m. on June 12, 2009, when someone shot multiple times from outdoors through a wall into a second-story apartment home at 2112 Sun Ave., near Cheyenne Avenue and Interstate 15.

The girl's father, Willie Bullins, told police that, before the shooting began, he was standing in the upstairs living room of his apartment and his daughter was watching television in the same room.

Police said Bullins then walked toward a sliding glass door, which opens onto a patio and overlooks the parking lot. Bullins told police he saw a black male standing near some bushes. Without warning the black male raised what appeared to be a handgun, pointed it at him and began firing, he told police.

Bullins said he ducked and tried to get Savannah downstairs, but one of the bullets struck her before she could get to the stairs, the police report said. Bullins told police he carried her downstairs, where she stopped breathing.

Bullins' wife, Kimberly Bullins, began to administer CPR on the girl, police said. When police and emergency personnel arrived, the girl was transported to University Medical Center, where she was pronounced death, police said.

There were five other children, ages 2 to 11, in the apartment, but no one else was hit, police said.

Police said crime investigators discovered the apartment had been struck by gunfire 10 times and located eight 9-millimeter spent casings in the grassy area where Bullins had seen the black male.

About a week later, after several witnesses came forward, police identified Reid as the shooter and Larry as helping to instigate and plan the shooting. Both men were members of the 004 Hoodsmen Bloods gang, police said.

A witness told police that Willie Bullins was targeted because he had begun selling drugs. Bullins told police he had recently moved into the neighborhood and had been selling marijauna out of his apartment, the police report said.

The police report also said the defendants apparently “did not want the competition.”

Larry was arrested on June 24, 2009, and Reid was apprehended on Aug. 10, 2009.

Reid and Larry have each been charged with murder with use of a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit murder with a deadly weapon in Savannah's death.

They have also been charged with seven counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon, five counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of discharging a firearm into a structure. Each charge also carries a gang enhancement that could extend any sentence, if convicted.

Prosecutors have also charged Reid with one count of being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm. He pleaded guilty in 2004 to shooting a former rival gang member twice. He served the minimum four years of a 10-year sentence for assault with a deadly weapon and to promote, further or assist a gang, according to prison records.

The defendants are each in custody on $720,000 bail.