The ‘killer bullies’ filmed stomping a Las Vegas boy to death made their first court appearance as they are charged with murder as adults and ordered into custody.
Three of the eight teenagers who were charged in connection with the deadly beating of a student near Rancho High School appeared in court Friday morning.
Dontral Beaver, 16, Gianni Robinson, 17, and Damien Hernandez, 17, made their first appearance as adults in court Friday morning.
A fourth suspect, Treavion Randolph, 16, appeared in court later that afternoon.
The remaining four students arrested are under 16 and have not been publicly identified. A hearing next month will decide whether they are charged as adults.
The hearing comes nearly two weeks after the fatal beating of Jonathan Lewis, 17, who died on November 7.
Treavion Randolph (left), 16, Damien Hernandez, 17, Gianni Robinson, 17, and Dontral Beaver (right), 16, made their first appearance as adults in court Friday morning
Gianni Robinson, 17, pictured in court. The hearing comes nearly two weeks after the fatal beating of Jonathan Lewis, 17, who died on November 7
A fourth suspect, Treavion Randolph, 16, appeared in court later that afternoon
The judge ordered the defendants to continue to be held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center.
They are set to appear in court again on Tuesday.
Daniel Martinez, public defender representing Randolph, told the Las Vegas Review Journal that the expects his client to plead not guilty on Tuesday.
Lewis was set attacked by a mob of students and later died in the hospital.
Lt. Jason Johansson of Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said all the people involved were students of Rancho High School.
Johansson said that a citizen found Lewis unresponsive after the beating, which happened in an alleyway near the school, and brought him back to the school.
Lewis was then taken to UMC where doctors determined that he had suffered ‘non-survivable head trauma,’ Fox 5 Vegas reported.
The fight was over a pair of stolen wireless headphones and possibly a vape pen, which were taken from friends of the victim. All parties involved agreed to meet in the alley to fight, according to police.
He is said to have been targeted after standing-up for a smaller friend who’d just been robbed by the mob, according to a GoFundMe page set up by his family.
Police officers found him at about 2:05 pm that day, bleeding from the head.
The teen was put on life support at University Medical Center, where he died Tuesday after doctors made several attempts to save his life.
‘All I can do is hope there’s a way that can find forgiveness in their heart and find a way to be able to come to terms with what they’ve done,’ the boy’s father, also named Jonathan Lewis, said of his son’s attackers.
The 17-year-old was an aspiring artist and devoted older brother
Lewis created a GoFundMe page titled ‘Heart of a Champion Our Son,’ where he posted a photo of him holding his son’s hand in the hospital on the day of his death
He described his son ‘courageous’ and said he wished to donate his organs to save others
Speaking to 8NewsNow, Lewis said his son usually kept to himself and had planned to move to Austin, Texas to be with his father.
The teen was living with his mother in Las Vegas at the time of his death.
‘Violence just begets more violence and these children don’t even know what they’re doing half the time,’ Lewis said.
In the aftermath of the teen’s death, video circulated on social media showing the moment a fight broke out.
It shows a group of about a dozen youths kicking the 17-year-old as he lies curled on the pavement.
At least two teens stand nearby, filming the attack on their cellphones.
Johansson described the viral video showing the beating as ‘void of humanity’. Lewis’s father said he ‘can’t watch’ the clip.
Chilling video posted to social media showed a group of youths standing over Jonathan’s body, kicking him as he lay on the pavement
The attack happened near Rancho High School on the afternoon of November 1. Police found Jonathan bleeding from his head
Speaking to a local news outlet, Lewis said he hopes his son’s death opens up a discussion about the epidemic of youth violence in Las Vegas
Lewis claimed that his son was standing up for a ‘smaller friend’ who had something stolen by the group and was then thrown in a trash can.
He described his son ‘courageous’ and said he wished to donate his organs to save others.
The heartbroken father added: ‘I think there’s just a failure of all of humanity to recognize that we need to be teaching our youth how to coexist.’
Lewis created a GoFundMe page titled ‘Heart of a Champion Our Son,’ where he posted a photo of him holding his son’s hand in the hospital on the day of his death.
‘He will always be so loved as his dad I’ll forever hold him in my heart, shine even brighter, love even more and work all my life to bring peace into this world,’ Lewis wrote.
The 17-year-old was an aspiring artist and devoted older brother.
‘Although our hearts are broken and this tragedy is absolutely absurd madness, we want to focus on the legacy of our son,’ Lewis wrote.
‘Jonathan was a loving, giving, kind, fierce young man who loved community and caring for others.’