Las Vegas teen accused in police shooting uses insanity defense
A Las Vegas teenager who authorities say fired several rounds from a semiautomatic rifle at a Metropolitan Police Department officer while streaming the attack live on Facebook told a judge Wednesday that he is not guilty by reason of insanity.
Arnulfo Robles, 17, faces one count each of attempted murder and assault on a protected person with use of a deadly weapon and 10 counts of discharging a firearm at or into an occupied vehicle in the February attack, which was first made public last week.
His lawyer, Donald Green, pointed to a section of Nevada law that allows defendants to raise an insanity defense in addition to entering a straightforward plea of not guilty.
Robles, who is being tried as an adult, entered both pleas.
An insanity plea requires the defense to establish that because of “a disease or defect of the mind, defendant was in a delusional state at the time of the alleged offense,” state law reads. Robles must also show that his delusional state meant that he did not know or understand the nature of his act or appreciate that it was a crime.
Green declined to comment on the allegations after Wednesday’s proceeding.
While the Facebook video has not yet been made public, prosecutors said Robles fired seven rounds from an SKS semiautomatic rifle at Metro Sgt. Sean Miller in the early morning hours of Feb. 3, striking his police vehicle near Jones Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road but leaving the officer unharmed.
Police have not released other details about the shooting, and it was unclear whether anyone viewed Robles’ livestream on Facebook. After the shooting, Robles allegedly led police on a high-speed chase before crashing his vehicle into a parked car near Durango Drive and Warm Springs Road.
He was being held on $500,000 bail.
Wearing a belly chain and a blue jail jumpsuit, Robles spoke quietly, telling District Judge Elissa Cadish that he was a senior in high school. When the judge asked whether he had read charges in an indictment against him, he answered, “Yes, miss.”
A Clark County School District spokeswoman last week could not confirm whether Robles was enrolled at any district school.
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.