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Two nevada Men were given lengthy prison sentences on Tuesday after pleading guilty to the fatal hit-and-run of a man riding a bike on the side of a road. vegasHe recorded the collision on video and walked away laughing,
A judge sentenced 20-year-old Jesus Ayala to 20 years in prison and 18-year-old Jajamir Keyes to 18 years for second-degree murder with a deadly weapon. clark county The District Attorney’s Office made the announcement Wednesday. Both pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors in October.
retired California Police Chief Andreas “Andy” Probst, 64, was riding his bicycle in Las Vegas on August 14, 2023, when he was intentionally struck by a stolen vehicle, according to the Clark County District Attorney’s Office. According to the district attorney’s office, Ayala was driving and Keyes was sitting in the passenger seat.
Video taken from the passenger seat shows the vehicle approaching Probst from behind as he approaches the curb on an otherwise traffic-free road. voices Laughing can be heard in the car as the vehicle moves towards Probst and hits the bicycle. Probst hurtles back across the hood and into the windshield.
A school resource officer provided video of the confrontation with investigators, which led to the arrests of Ayala and Keys. It was later posted on social media and shared by Elon Musk, bringing national attention to the case.
Chief Deputy District Attorney John Giordani described the murders as the most “disgusting and heinous” acts he has committed in his career.
“Although the defendants were young, they knew right from wrong, and no one can forgive the decisions they made that day,” Giordani said in a statement. “I hope this sentence will send a message to other teenagers that life is sacred and if you take someone’s life, you are taking your own life.”
According to the Clark County District Attorney’s Office, Ayala, who law enforcement officials say was a member of the Night Crawlers gang, and Keyes were juveniles at the time, limiting the scope of the court’s sentence. The court awarded the maximum punishment. After 20 and 18 years, respectively, Ayala and Keyes will be eligible for parole.
In a statement to The Associated Press, Ayala’s attorney, P. David Westbrook, said Ayala was genuinely sorry for his actions. Westbrook said there is no guarantee his client will get parole.
“He recognizes that he can never make this right, and he does not expect forgiveness, but in accepting this life sentence and sparing the victims’ families the additional pain of going through a criminal trial, Mr. Ayala has done everything he could to show his remorse,” Westbrook said in an email.
Keyes’ attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Probst’s family said in 2023 that Ayala and Keyes had laughed at them while they waited for the court hearing to begin.
Probst’s family also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Hyundai Motor Company, alleging that Ayala and Keyes were able to steal the vehicle using the “Tik Tok method”, a method demonstrated on social media to steal a car with just a screwdriver and a USB cable. On Tuesday, Hyundai and Kia settled a multistate lawsuit that made a similar claim, and the companies agreed to repair millions of models equipped with the proper anti-theft technology for free.
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This story has been corrected to say Ayala and Keys were sentenced on Tuesday, not Wednesday.