2 hours ago
3
Two Las Vegas men who appeared to intentionally mow down a bike-riding retired police chief will spend decades behind bars over the filmed crime spree — despite one of the monsters boasting during his arrest that he’d only get “a slap on the wrist.”
Jesus Ayala, 20, and Jzamir Keys, 18, were sentenced in Clark County District Court on Tuesday for the murder of 64-year-old retired California police chief Andreas “Andy” Probst in August 2023, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Ayala, who was 17 at the time, will be locked up for 20 years to life. Keys, who was 16, was slapped with 18 years to life.
Ayala, who was driving, received an additional two to 10 years for battery.
Their sentences were reached after their defense team reached a plea agreement with prosecutors.
“There is no excuse for what you two have done and the damage and pain that you have caused,” District Judge Jacqueline Bluth said during sentencing.
Ayala and Keys pleaded guilty in October to second-degree murder and battery, both with the use of a deadly weapon, for deliberately hitting and killing Probst, 64, from behind as he rode his bike on a residential street.
The two had stolen a Hyundai Elantra used in the crime before Keys began filming a horrifying video from the passenger seat.
In the video, the pair laughed as they planned to hit Probst — and at one point, one of them is heard saying “hit his ass” before plowing into the retiree.
Before killing the retired top cop, the reckless duo struck a 72-year-old bicyclist, who survived, with the stolen vehicle before they fled and crashed into a Toyota Corolla, prosecutors said.
The video of Probst’s senseless killing went viral.
Ayala, who had just turned 18 at the time, was arrested hours after Probst was killed and told the police while in custody that he wouldn’t be locked up for long.
“You think this juvenile [expletive] is gonna do some [expletive]? I’ll be out in 30 days, I’ll bet you,” he told the cops. “It’s just ah, [expletive] ah, hit-and-run — slap on the wrist.”
During their sentencing, Probst’s widow, Crystal, said that when her husband was killed, it took away her “entire world.”
“They stole the future we earned, moment by moment and year by year,” she said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “And they’ve left the silence that nothing can replace. The pain they caused does not fade; it grows.”
“I wake up feeling like I am being asked to live a life I no longer recognize,” she added.
The retired police chief’s son, Michael, told the court that when he found out his father had died, his “heart was just ripped and torn into pieces.”
“The moment I learned of his death, all I could do is scream and yell,” he said.
His sister, Taylor, said the two robbed her of the experience of him walking her down the aisle on her wedding day.
“My dad will never get to experience that,” she said.
“He’ll never have the opportunity to walk his little girl down the aisle and give her away. He’ll never have the opportunity to hold his first grandchildren. And that’s because it was stolen from him.”
Ayala and Keys chose not to address the court when the judge offered them the chance.
English (US)