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Aug. 28, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

'Thug' Presley, Elvis' cousin, pleads guilty in fatal melee

By DAVID KIHARA
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Kristopher Presley, a distant cousin of Elvis Presley, appears Wednesday in District Court. He was sentenced to 18 months to four years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.
Photo by Gary Thompson.

No one's throwing a party at the county jail for inmate Kristopher Presley, a distant cousin of Elvis Presley and an aspiring hip-hop artist who pleaded guilty Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter in District Court.

That doesn't mean the inmate who calls himself "Thug Presley" has regrets about leaving.

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    • District Judge David Barker sentenced Presley to 18 months to four years in prison for a fatal confrontation in 2004. Since Presley already has served more than 1,100 days in jail during the case, he is essentially a free man. He is expected to be released soon from the Clark County Detention Center.

    Speaking in a slow Southern drawl, Presley told the judge that he regretted killing Martin Diaz-Barboza after getting into a fight outside a mini-mart on Tropicana Avenue near Boulder Highway. A police report said the confrontation grew out of a racial slur uttered by a friend of Presley in front of a couple of Hispanic men, including Diaz-Barboza.

    Presley said he wants to get the experience behind him.

    "I regret what happened. I'm so sorry," said Presley, a native of Tennessee who lives in Las Vegas on and off to pursue his music career.

    Authorities said Presley struck Diaz-Barboza with his SUV and then ran over him. A Las Vegas police detective who investigated the collision said in a police report that Presley didn't brake during the incident.

    Presley left the scene after the crash but was taken into custody shortly after the killing. He initially denied that he was driving the SUV but then said it was self-defense.

    Presley's attorney, Greg Denue, said his client often cries about the killing when he talks about it. "He's tried to get on with his life," Denue said. "With his music career, he has a very bright future."

    Presley has the same piercing blue eyes as Elvis, but that's where the similarities end. At 25, he keeps his brown hair cut short and has a row of gold teeth that flash when he smiles.

    Presley has worked a variety of jobs but has dreams of following in the footsteps of his famous cousin and becoming a world-famous singer.

    He has focused on hip-hop and said he'll soon release his first major-label album, titled "White Gold."

    Denue, who also advises Presley on his music career, has been pushing him to sing country music too.

    "Your last name is Presley. I want you to think NASCAR and pit stops," Denue recalls telling Presley.

    But in an interview at the jail, Presley said he's going to be a hip-hop artist. "It's like the modern-day rock 'n' roll," he said.

    Presley said his great-grandfather was a first cousin of Elvis' father, but he added that he has no connection to the wealth associated with Graceland. Presley downplays his connection to Elvis, a link that was discovered through other sources.

    Presley grew up in a single-parent house in a poor area of Memphis, Tenn., and said being raised there informs his music. He has moved between Memphis and Las Vegas since he was 16. His mother lives in Las Vegas and was to star in a reality television show that would have had her date Elvis impersonators, Denue said. The show wasn't picked up.

    Ignacio "Nachi" Jimenez, Presley's manager, said Presley, a father of three, essentially raised himself. Jimenez said he's known Presley for about five years and believes he'll go far despite his rough background.

    "He grew up on the streets living a real rough life," Jimenez said. "I felt bad for the kid that he had such a rough life."

    But Presley said growing up poor is one of the things he has in common with Elvis.

    "He came up from the projects too," Presley said.

    Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.

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    ROOFA.. wrote on October 15, 2009 08:37 PM: I KNOW HIM.. HE WAS GETTING JUMPED .. FOR YOU DUMMIES..= OUT NUMBERED , AND GETTING ASSAULTED..
    HE JUMPED IN THE SUV AND PRESS THE GAS IN REVERSE..

    THERE WERE UNKNOWN ASSAILANTS BEATING ON HIS HOOD WHEN HE REVERSED.. AND HE RAN THE ONE BEHIND HIS SUV.. OVER..IF THEY WERE GOING TO JUMP YOU.. WHAT WOULD YOU DO?? ..
    LETS BE REALISTIC.. YOU WEREN'T THERE SO DON'T JUDGE..
    GO ON THUG PRESLEY..
    BE A STAR..
    AND DON'T LET THESE HATERS BRING .. YOU DOWN.. FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS .. THAT IS AMERICA.. LAND OF DREAMS..

    DO IT.. -
    ROOFUS "THE TIGER" BOMBAY
    LAST CHANSE MUSIC -
    LOS ANGELES CA


    Brian wrote on September 17, 2008 10:40 AM: "truth," your name should more accurately be "heresay."

    I don't defend "Thug," Presley, his actions sound deplorable based on the article's info. But let's get this straight: Elvis Presely was damn sure not a racist and not a thug. Elvis respected blacks as human beings, and out of adoration of their musical and spiritual culture. He gave fortunes to charities benefiting inner city communities, black & white. He refused to stay in deep South hotels while on tour if they would not allow his backup singers The Sweet Inspirations to stay there. He was good friends with many black entertainers including Jackie Wilson, whose hostipal bills he paid in later years. That's some racist.

    That ignorant view was created largely by Chuck D's uninformed pot shot in Public Enemy's Fight The Power. Even Chuck D. has since retracted the implication, acknowledging Elvis as a pioneer who crossed racial lines with his music, and in D's words was "one bad-ass white boy." But the image persists. It's wrong. Stop the ignorance.


    grandmasharon wrote on September 01, 2008 06:20 AM: Gee, I hope he can still play after that slap on the wrist!

    I could understand the sentence and early release IF it had been accidental (stupid, but accidental). But for cryin' out loud, the man RAN OVER the victim and purposely didn't brake.

    God forgive us.


    D wrote on August 30, 2008 03:01 PM: What a loser.


    truth wrote on August 30, 2008 07:49 AM: Isnt it Ironic how people defend elvis a white trash musician who died of a drug overdose and have the nerve to call other musicans rappers thugs...How exactly was Elvis any different? Could it be because you dont like hip hop you create your own differences in your mind...The only differnce between Elvis and todays Rappers is music type and skin color...both are from the ghetto, drug using, racial slurring thugs..


    K wrote on August 29, 2008 12:40 AM: Maybe before all of you judge someone you should have the facts and also look at your own life and ask yourselves if you ever did anything at this age that you wish you could take back, JUDGE NOT LEST YOU BE JUDGED BY THE SAME MEASURE. God Bless both these families.


    Self wrote on August 29, 2008 12:32 AM: chris at court


    VJ wrote on August 28, 2008 05:33 PM: A WANNA BE VANILLA ICE... STICK TO REDNECK COUNTRY SON.. THOSE GUYS IN HIP-HOP..RAP AND GANGSTA RAP WILL EAT YOU UP AND SPIT YOU OUT LIKE A PIECE OF MEAT STUCK IN THEIR TEETH.

    PROBABLY YOU WERE A JAIL HOUSE BIOTCH IN THERE CRYING AND ALL


    elvis wrote on August 28, 2008 05:23 PM: Trop & Boulder Highway Enuff Said


    casinocon wrote on August 28, 2008 03:24 PM: How could running over someone with an SUV possibly be self defense? Maybe if someone is pointing a gun at you . . . again, we need more info here.


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