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LAS VEGAS (AP) — A 24-year-old repeat felon who prosecutors called a documented gang member has been sentenced to 64 years to life in prison for shooting into a Las Vegas apartment last November, killing one person and wounding two others inside.
Matthew Washington Jr.'s lawyer, David Otto, protested during sentencing Wednesday that the lengthy term could amount to life in prison for his client, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. (http://bit.ly/SWlZrH )
Clark County District Court Judge Kenneth Cory sentenced Washington to consecutive terms on 17 felony conspiracy, attempted murder, battery and weapon convictions — in addition to a 20 years-to-life sentence that a jury determined he should serve for killing 31-year-old Nathan Rawls.
Rawls was fatally wounded when he was shot in the back while he slept on a sofa before dawn Nov. 5 at an apartment on Sherwood Street, police and prosecutors said. A man and a woman sleeping on a loveseat were wounded in the Nov. 5 shooting at an apartment on Sherwood Street just east of the Las Vegas Strip. Police said bullets passed above a bed where a sleeping man wasn't injured.
Police said they found 13 bullet holes in the apartment and spent bullet casings from two handguns — a .40-caliber and a 9mm. Washington was arrested with a co-defendant, Martell Moten, in a vehicle that a witness described seeing at the shooting scene. Police said they recovered a .40-caliber Glock and a 9mm Smith & Wesson handguns in the vehicle.
Prosecutors said the two men did not know any of the people in the apartment, and authorities never determined a clear motive for the shooting.
Washington, who was convicted at trial in April, had previous felony convictions in 2010 and 2011 on grand larceny, firearm and burglary charges. Moten is scheduled for trial in October.
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
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