Navy vet pleads not guilty in beating death of neighbor

By Ken Ritter, Associated Press

Wednesday, March 18, 2015 | 1:34 p.m.

A U.S. Navy veteran who served in Iraq pleaded not guilty Wednesday in the beating death of a neighbor during what police say was a dispute about noisy children living in an upstairs apartment.

The mother of the dead man sobbed in the courtroom while Gambino Granada, 32, stood using crutches and invoked his right to a trial within 60 days on murder and battery charges in the death of 34-year-old Dearold Wayne Dolittle Jr.

Clark County District Court Judge Kathleen Delaney scheduled trial May 11 and denied a request by prosecutor Nicole Cannizzaro to jail Granada without bail pending trial.

The judge allowed Granada to remain out of jail on house arrest without bail.

Granada is referred to in the court record as Granada-Ruiz. He told the judge he uses Granada.

He is accused of beating Dolittle unconscious in March 2014 in a parking lot at Hampton Court apartments a few blocks east of the Las Vegas Strip. Granada no longer lives at the complex.

Granada's apartment was downstairs from one occupied by Dolittle, his fiance and her two young children. Police say Granada had complained that the children upstairs were too noisy and had thrown a ball close to his parked vehicle.

Another resident told police he was driving through the complex when he saw a man straddling and punching another man who tried to defend himself before becoming unconscious.

Dolittle's death in December resulted in an indictment last week adding murder to a battery charge already lodged against Granada.

"The victim was observed by an eyewitness on the ground, motionless, and the defendant continued to beat him for a significant period of time," Cannizzaro said. "This defendant is a danger to the community."

The Clark County coroner said Dolittle had a severe head injury and contracted pneumonia after so much time on a ventilator. The death was ruled a homicide.

Granada's attorney, Betsy Allen, said he was a full-time student at UNLV who hadn't missed any court dates on the felony battery charge during the months that Dolittle was hospitalized. Allen said Granada wouldn't flee now to avoid prosecution.

Granada was using crutches because he has a knee injury that may require surgery, Allen added.

Sophia Sigers, Dolittle's mother, was surrounded and supported outside court by more than a dozen friends and family members, including her son's two teenage children.

Sigers called it unfair for Granada to have remained out of jail during the months her son was on life-support.

"There's no justice for my son," she said.

The murder charge could carry the possibility of the death penalty, depending on a decision in coming days by District Attorney Steve Wolfson and a team of prosecutors.