Teens avoid prison after jailhouse fight

Two teens, sentenced as adults to a year in jail for stabbing a sleeping gang rival, narrowly escaped prison on Monday when a Carson City judge took mercy on them because of their ages.

In June, Adrian Garcia, 15, and Francisco Monroy,16, were each additionally charged in an assault on another inmate, and appeared before District Court Judge Todd Russell on a probation revocation hearing Monday.

The two are serving one year in jail with a suspended sentence of four years in prison on a charge of battery with a deadly weapon. In December they entered the unlocked home of a rival gang member and stabbed the 16-year-old victim seven times as he slept on the couch.

Garcia's attorney, Bruce Lindsay, argued against sending his client to prison, noting that the assault that landed him in jail, and the subsequent assault on an inmate while in custody, were all at the urging of Monroy.

"To revoke his probation and send him to prison means he would do four years in an adult prison," said Lindsay, motioning toward Garcia, who weighs 130 pounds and stands 5-feet-5-inches tall. "He's not very big."

Monroy's attorney, Ben Walker, argued that his client was not the instigator in the jailhouse fight and things were fine until the victim started a problem.

Walker described a jail officer having no trouble pulling Monroy and Garcia off of the victim. Monroy is 5-feet-3-inches tall and weighs 120 pounds.

"The jailer grabbed one with one hand and the other with another and pulled them both off."

Deputy District Attorney Kristin Luis was also at odds over how to handle the two young inmates.

"I can't imagine what kind of nightmare these two would be on probation when they can't even behave in jail," said Deputy District Attorney Kristin Luis. "I'm not anxious to send them to prison, but I don't know what to do to stop that behavior."

After seeing the boys standing before him, instead of prison, Judge Todd Russell added 60 days to Monroy's sentence and did not add any time to Garcia's.

"But if you have any further violations," he warned. "You will be facing (prison) time."

- Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.