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4 Las Vegas teens plead guilty in classmate’s deadly beating as part of plea deal

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Four Las Vegas teenagers pleaded guilty Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter in the fatal beating of their high school classmate, as part of a deal with prosecutors that kept them from being tried as adults.

The teens originally were charged in January as adults with second-degree murder and conspiracy in connection with the November death of 17-year-old Jonathan Lewis Jr.

The attack was captured on cellphone video and shared widely across social media.

Each teen faces incarceration at a juvenile detention center for an undetermined length of time, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

High School Brawl Vegas
A memorial for Jonathan Lewis Jr. in an alleyway near Rancho High School in eastern Las Vegas on Nov. 21, 2023.

Ty O’Neil / AP


Karen A. Connolly, an attorney for Damien Hernandez told CBS News, “Though not one of the major participants, Damien deeply regrets his participation in the melee which resulted in Jonathan’s tragic death. He accepts full responsibility and will accept whatever punishment is meted out.”

Minors prosecuted in the juvenile court system in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, don’t face traditional jail or prison sentences and instead are released from custody after they complete rehabilitation programs, according to Brigid Duffy, director of the juvenile division of the Clark County district attorney’s office.

Defense lawyer Robert Draskovich, representing one of the four teens, said after court Tuesday that the deal “was a very fair resolution.”

CBS affiliate KLAS-TV reports that Draskovich said there’s no sentencing range for the teens as part of the plea agreement and it’s up to a judge to decide on the sentencing for each one

Lewis’ mother, Mellisa Ready, said she doesn’t agree with the plea deal.

Ready called the agreement disgusting and broke down in court Tuesday morning.

“There’s literally no one being held accountable with true punishment for my son’s murder,” she told the Review-Journal. “It’s disgusting.”

KLAS says Ready criticized the plea agreement before, claiming she wasn’t notified of the deal when the teens initially accepted it on Aug. 1.

“I would’ve disagreed with the deal entirely. They should be accountable as adults – they made an adult choice,” she said. “They knew that when they were stomping on my child’s head that he was going to die as a result.”  

In a statement to The Associated Press after terms of the deal were made public, District Attorney Steve Wolfson’s office defended the resolution of the case as thoughtfully addressing both the egregious facts and potential legal challenges that prosecutors would have faced at trial.

The statement said the juvenile court system also is better equipped to offer the young defendants resources for rehabilitation.

In Nevada, a teenager facing a murder charge can be charged as an adult if they were 13 or older when the crime occurred.

Authorities have said the students agreed to meet in an alleyway near Rancho High School to fight over a vape pen and wireless headphones that had been stolen from Lewis’ friend. Lewis died from his injuries six days later.

A homicide detective who investigated the case told the grand jury that cellphone and surveillance video showed Lewis taking off his sweatshirt and throwing a punch at one of the students, according to court transcripts made public in January. The suspects then pulled Lewis to the ground and began punching, kicking and stomping on him, the detective said.

A student and a resident in the area carried Lewis, who was badly beaten and unconscious, back to campus after the fight, according to the transcripts. School staff called 911 and tried to help him.



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Trump “safe” after gunshots fired in his vicinity in Florida, campaign says; Secret Service investigating

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Donald Trump is safe after gunshots were fired in his vicinity on Sunday, his campaign said in statement. The U.S. Secret Service says it is investigating the incident. 

“President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity,” Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director, said in a brief statement, noting that no further details were available yet. 

The Secret Service said it was investigating the incident, which occurred just before 2 p.m., with local authorities. 

“The Secret Service, in conjunction with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, is investigating a protective incident involving former President Donald Trump that occurred shortly before 2 p.m. The former president is safe,” Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said. 

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is expected to give a briefing with more details shortly.

The incident comes two months after an assassination attempt against the former president during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

This is a developing story.



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Donald Trump says “I hate Taylor Swift!”

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Former President Donald Trump took aim at Taylor Swift in a Truth Social post Sunday, declaring his distaste for the superstar after she endorsed his opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris. 

“I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” Trump wrote in the post.

His announcement emerged online less than a week after Swift revealed publicly for the first time her plans to vote for Harris, the Democratic nominee in this year’s presidential election. Her endorsement followed the first debate on Sept. 10 between Trump and Harris, which saw the two candidates face off during a televised showdown in Philadelphia that covered issues like abortion, immigration, the economy and foreign policy.

“I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Swift said in an Instagram post. “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”

Swift also voiced her support for Walz, the Minnesota governor tapped to be Harris’ vice presidential running mate, noting how he “has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.”

The artist signed off as “Childless Cat Lady” to end her post, which accompanied a photo of Swift holding a cat, echoing 2021 comments from Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, that recently surfaced. In a 2021 interview, Vance lamented that the country was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives.” Vance later said he was being sarcastic.

Swift acknowledged the post that Trump had recently shared AI-generated images to his Truth Social account that showed women wearing “Swifties for Trump” t-shirts and falsely suggested she had endorsed him. They included a satirical post that claimed fans of Swift were “turning to Trump” after security concerns led to the cancellation of her concerts in Vienna in August.

“I accept!” Trump wrote when he posted the false images.

Swift said the incident triggered her “fears around AI, and and the dangers of spreading misinformation.”

“It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter,” she said. “The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”

While it’s unclear what or any impact Swift’s endorsement could have, her Instagram post drove 405,999 users to visit the site vote.gov over the course of the following day.





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9/15: Face the Nation – CBS News

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9/15: Face the Nation – CBS News


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This week on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Republican vice-presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio talks about his amplification of false claims about Haitian immigrants in his home state. Plus, former Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn talks about the former president’s tariff plan.

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