LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The mother of a Las Vegas teen beat to death in 2023 is criticizing the Clark County District Attorney after her son’s accused killers took a plea deal to avoid adult prison.
“You cannot jump in a human being’s head, stomp on him, and think that they’re going to remain alive after,” said Mellisa Ready, mother of Jonathan Lewis, 17. “They knew he was going to die, and that’s how I feel – and they’re letting them get away with murder.”
Damien Hernandez, Dontral Beaver, Gianni Robinson, and Treavion Randolph, all under the age of 18 when the alleged crime was committed, were formally charged with murder in January. On Thursday, it was announced that they had accepted a plea deal that will allow them to plead guilty as juveniles to manslaughter, according to Clark County District Court documents.
“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.
Hernandez, Beaver, Robinson, and Randolph will no longer be treated as adults. Instead, they’ll be sent back to juvenile court. Lewis’s mother had heard otherwise as recently as last week.
“I was told that they were going to plea guilty to murder and that the most they would get in the adult system is two years,” Ready said, adding that she wasn’t notified of the Thursday hearing.
“I would’ve disagreed with the deal entirely. They should be accountable as adults – they made an adult choice,” she said. “They knew that when they were stomping on my child’s head. That he was going to die as a result.”
Out of the nine teens arrested, four others, including a 13-year-old boy, have pleaded guilty in juvenile court to voluntary manslaughter.
“They are letting them get away with murdering my child,” Ready said.
The Clark County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a Thursday afternoon request for comment on the plea deal.
