LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Clark County District Attorney’s Office noted that in the span of a week, five murderers were convicted of first-degree murder, an office first, according to the district attorney.
The cases include Wendell Melton who shot and killed his son, 14-year-old Giovanni Melton, in 2017. At the time, the teenager’s mother claimed her ex-husband killed Giovanni because he was gay. Melton will be sentenced in July.
Another case involved Angell Fernandez, who shot and killed 40-year-old Ronnie Craven, a Las Vegas-based rapper.
“In my 40-plus years of working in the criminal justice system, I can’t recall that many first-degree murder convictions in such a short time frame.” Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said in a statement. “Although many industries were shut down during the pandemic, crime never stopped. Now that courts have resumed trials, we are seeing these violent criminals brought to justice.”
Wolfson, who is up for re-election this year, thanked his staff and police for their work.
The maximum penalty in Nevada for first-degree murder is life in prison. Prosecutors may seek the death penalty in certain cases, but the state has not carried out an execution since 2006.
