59°F
weather icon Clear

Man gets life in prison in deaths of 3 teens

A man convicted of the 1996 killings of three teenagers in North Las Vegas was ordered Tuesday to spend the rest of his life in prison.

A jury in September convicted 44-year-old Willis Davis of three counts of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon, court records show. Davis was found guilty in the fatal drive-by shootings of 18-year-old John Muldrow Jr. on May 18, 1996, and the killings of 15-year-old Xavier Crockett and 14-year-old Jason Moore on Nov. 8, 1996.

District Judge Jacqueline Bluth ordered Davis to serve two sentences of 40 years to life in prison, along with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutor Binu Palal said Davis’ conviction and sentencing was “a long time coming” for the victims’ families.

“I’m just happy those kids got justice,” Palal said after the hearing.

According to Davis’ arrest report, he confessed to the homicides after he was detained by police on Jan. 12. The shootings were tied to gang violence, the report said, and Davis told police he was a member of the GPK gang at the time of the killings.

Davis previously told the Review-Journal that he gave false confessions to the crimes while high on PCP, which defense attorney Betsy Allen said she argued during the trial.

Reginald Moore, Jason Moore’s father, was the only family member who attended Davis’ sentencing on Tuesday. He sat quietly while Davis was sentenced, but did not give a statement to the judge and declined to speak with the Review-Journal.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.

THE LATEST
 
Bail raised in suspended Las Vegas sergeant’s case

A judge raised bail to $150,000 for a suspended Metropolitan Police Department sergeant accused of illegal detentions and child sex abuse material possession.