Judge rejects controversial plea deal for teens in caught-on-camera beatdown of classmate Jonathan Lewis
A Nevada judge rejected the plea deal this week for four teens charged with the murder of a Las Vegas high schooler in a caught-on-camera beatdown that authorities have called “void of humanity”
Judge Linda Marquis expressed concerns about transferring the high-profile case from the Clark County District Court to the juvenile system, the Clark County District Attorney’s Office told News 3.
Suspects Damien Hernandez, Dontral Beaver, Gianni Robinson and Treavion Randolph were all under 18 when they were charged as adults with second-degree murder for the death of Jonathan Lewis last fall.
Lewis, 17, was brutally beaten by a group of teens in an alley near Rancho High School on Nov. 1, 2023. He died from blunt force trauma six days later.
Earlier this month, prosecutors reached a plea agreement to move the four suspects’ cases to juvenile court, where they were expected to plead guilty to juvenile manslaughter.
Lewis’ mother, Milleisa Ready, was horrified by the deal, which guaranteed that the four teens suspected of killing her son would avoid time in adult prison.
“There is no justice for my son Jonathan Lewis, that was stomped to death and murdered while 20 people stood there and did nothing more than film it and broadcast it to social media,” Ready said.
Ready also claimed she was not informed about the deal ahead of time, though the district attorney’s office insisted that the terms were “accurately conveyed” to her the week before.
“We were able to evaluate all the evidence as a whole and reach this mutually beneficial negotiation,” the attorney for Gianni Robinson, Robert Draskovich, said of the deal.
“Obviously, what occurred is a tragedy, but convicting these young men of murder would be a second tragedy, following the first,” he insisted.
Marquis’ move to reject the deal means that attorneys on both sides will have to address her concerns before the case returns to court in September for another entry of plea, News 3 said.
The Clark County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately return The Post’s request for a comment on the next steps.
Jonathan Lewis was allegedly attacked when he confronted a group of teens about a pair of wireless headphones that were supposedly stolen from his friends.
The beatdown was captured in multiple mobile phone videos, with local cops calling the attack “very void of humanity.”
The four teens initially claimed self-defense, and said Lewis landed the first blow.
Five other teens were also charged in the case. Four of them — including a 13-year-old — pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the juvenile systems.
One other teen is still awaiting sentencing.
