Court briefs for August 17, 1999

Judge loses bid to enhance pension

The Nevada Supreme Court Monday ruled that former District Judge Leonard Gang could not enhance his state pension benefits by the nearly three years he spent on the bench.

Gang, now general counsel for the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline, chose when he was appointed district judge in 1971 in Las Vegas to be in the judge's retirement system not the State Public Employees Retirement System.

He retired from the bench in 1974.

When he took his present job in 1994, he entered into the state system. He sought to add the nearly three years as a district judge to boost his benefits, offering to pay $22,690 to be credited with the back service.

The state Public Employees Retirement Board denied his application.

The retirement board said Gang was free, as other state workers, to buy up to five years of service under the law toward his pension in the state system. That would cost $65,000 to cover three years.

Father sentenced to 3 to 8 years

A Las Vegas man who pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the July 1996 death of his 4-month-old daughter has been sentenced to three to eight years in prison.

Theodore Friend, 21, had been charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the reduced charge without admitting responsibility.

Friend faced a maximum sentence of four to 10 years in prison from District Judge Jeff Sobel, who also had the option of granting probation for the incident.

Friend, who will be eligible for parole after serving three years, already has spent 19 months awaiting resolution of the case. That time will be credited toward the sentence.

Couple receives probation over death

Tears streamed down the face of Armando Gonzales, 31, as he and his girlfriend, Elvira Guardado-Gonzales, 29, were given probation for leaving their three children home alone while they went to cash a check and buy groceries. A fire in their house at 1606 Ferrell St. on Jan. 24, 1998, killed two of the three children and seriously injured the third. The couple originally was charged with second-degree murder, but the charges were reduced in a plea bargain to gross misdemeanor child abuse and neglect charges.

As part of probation, which was not opposed by prosecutors, the couple must attend parenting skill classes and take adult education classes to learn English.

Neither defendant spoke during Monday's sentencing hearing in District Judge Donald Mosley's courtroom.

LV man pleads not guilty in shooting

A Las Vegas man has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the shooting death of another man during an argument inside a car.

District Judge John McGroarty on Monday set a Nov. 22 trial date for Earnest Augusto Hines, 27, over the July incident.

Hines turned himself in to Metro Police to face charges in the death of 29-year-old Scottie Lee Thomas of Las Vegas. Police say Thomas was a passenger in a car driven by Hines when the defendant pulled a gun and shot the victim at least twice, police said.

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