Teen recalls time in jail after murder charges dismissed

For six months 15-year-old Tyrone White sat in a jail cell awaiting trial for a crime he swears he didn't commit.

For 23 hours every day he stayed in the cell with another teen. He was allowed out for 60 minutes each day. For 30 minutes he got to watch TV, and with the other half-hour he was allowed to call his family.

"It was like hell. For something I didn't do," White told the Review-Journal hours after he was released from jail.

Crying at times during the interview, White said, "I really thought nobody believed me and I was going to be there forever."

On Thursday, Clark County prosecutors dismissed murder charges against White and Christian Shannon, 18.

Las Vegas police alleged the two fatally shot 16-year-old Randii Lennette Morrow on May 15 as she waited at a bus stop with her boyfriend. Investigators believed the motive for the shooting stemmed from a fight days earlier between White and Morrow's boyfriend, Anthony Wright.

White and Shannon have adamantly denied any involvement in the shooting and passed a police-administered polygraph exam.

There also were credibility issues with Wright, the prosecution's key witness. Wright at first said he didn't know who the shooters were but changed his story weeks later after he had left Las Vegas for Louisiana.

Other witnesses could not identify White and Shannon during lineups.

Police said they still consider White and Shannon the main suspects in the case.

But defense attorneys Bob Draskovich and Julie Raye said police are only saying that because they don't have any other real suspects.

The attorneys said they have found an eyewitness who said the shooting was done with a nickel-plated pistol by two bald Hispanic men driving a black Impala. Draskovich said Wright is a known gang member -- something he has denied -- and the shooting happened as a result of Wright owing a drug debt.

Raye said they have several witnesses who could provide an alibi for White on the night of the shooting.

One of the witnesses was Tynisha Reeves, the mother of White's girlfriend. Reeves said White was at her home the night of the shooting. She told police White was outside of the residence at the time the shooting occurred, according to court documents.

Reeves told the Review-Journal that when she saw White later that night, he appeared calm -- not like someone who was in a traumatic gunfight.

"If he did murder somebody, I wouldn't put him back in the arms of my daughter," Reeves said. "I can't imagine him doing nothing. Even harming a fly."

Prosecutors said Thursday they have checked out the alibis provided by White and Shannon and didn't feel they were "ironclad."

Raye said when she first met with White in jail, he offered to take a lie detector test, give his DNA and fingerprints, "anything to prove it wasn't him."

And when prosecutors offered to drop the murder charges if White would plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter, the teenager refused.

"Why should an innocent person take a deal? If you're going to convict me of something I didn't do, you might as well go all the way," White said.

White said when he was released from jail about 10 a.m. Friday, "it didn't feel real."

He plans on staying away from bad influences and concentrating on going to school. He also wants to play football.

White said that before his arrest, he had done some "petty stuff," which he described as stealing stuff from stores. But he said he knows that was wrong. "I should have been going to school more often."

White's grandfather, Willie Virgil, said he is elated the teenager is out of jail. Virgil said he plans on teaching his grandson to put his faith in God, "the only protector he will need."

Virgil was also looking forward to cooking the meal White asked for when he was released: fried chicken, rice and beans.

White said he does fear that someone might come after him because police still consider him a suspect. But he plans on avoiding confrontation by moving and staying close to his family.

But, he said, all he can do is "put it in God's hands."

Attempts to contact Morrow's family were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, Draskovich and Raye did credit prosecutors and police for continuing to investigate the case after the arrests and for allowing the polygraph.

Review-Journal writer Michael Blasky contributed to this report. Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.

Trending topics:

• Anthony Wright
• Christian Shannon
• District Court
• judge
• Las Vegas
• Randii Morrow
• Robert Draskovich
• trial
• Tyrone White

Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. Bob_Realist Dec. 4, 2011 | 11:16 a.m. Report Abuse

   Thanks Matt. I should have gotten the name of the employee when I was there last. I approached her and asked her if she was just going to sit there and watch the blatant crime and she said, "There's nothing I can do about it, I just work here and review the documents." I have to go up there just after New Years so I may take my video camera to submit to the proper authorities not located in that office.

2. Matt.Miller Dec. 4, 2011 | 9:07 a.m. Report Abuse

   http://kvvu.images.worldnow.com/images/492344_G.jpg

3. mrnoitall Dec. 4, 2011 | 5:29 a.m. Report Abuse

   Nice fashon statement. Nice preppy look. Something tells me he doesn't dress like that in the hood?

4. Matt.Miller Dec. 3, 2011 | 10:13 p.m. Report Abuse

   I hear ya Bob.
   I too have done a lot of work at and around the Owens office.
   -Doing research on an open food stamp case to find out who is in Jail and who isn't, is called "Fishing". Fishing is strictly prohibited by the Feds (Food stamps is a federal program) as I said before people receiving food stamps only have to report income that goes over 130% of Poverty or if they move out of state. - This is just one of many laws the case workers have to work with. Their manual is over 900 pages long and is chalked full of regulations like this.
   The problem is really with Washington DC. Most workers I know are sick and tired and down right disgusted with all the fraud they see, but their hands are tied by laws and regulation that are created 3,000 miles away.
   Also, even if a worker knows/suspects that a client is frauding the system, unless they can prove it at the time, Federal law forces them to issue them Food Stamps. The part you do not see from the parking lot is that the case workers do send these cases to investigative department for future review. -
   And for what it's worth - If you see someone frauding the system, you should be reporting it, instead of just watching it. (I know that a bit easier said then done) - Matt

5. Jack.Webb Dec. 3, 2011 | 8:28 p.m. Report Abuse

   He has a history of shoplifting so he must be a murderer.
   
   In another place and time, many of the posters below would have been taken part in lynching parties.
   
   So many Republibaggers like the ones posting below have incredible contempt for the American system of justice and really want Sharia law.

6. Bob_Realist Dec. 3, 2011 | 7:29 p.m. Report Abuse

   ShayNayNay, I made a comment about you living in the real world but I guess that is an unacceptable statement for this paper.

7. ShayNayNayNot Dec. 3, 2011 | 5:31 p.m. Report Abuse

   This parasitic sub-species once again claims "Iz din do nuffin". They never take responsibility for themselves and blame the ebil YT for their actions.
   
   A polygraph test, unless you are on Maury, is not valid or admissible in court. Groids believe they can pass them by clenching their rectums shut tight. It does not matter if their tests came back that they "passed". Of course they were not picked out of a line up as they all look alike.
   
   This teenaper put himself in the position to be charged. Was he in the library with other witnesses studying for his finals? Was he in a hospital volunteering his time to help others? It was running feral in the hood.
   
   Since this is no human involvement I could personally care less, and even encourage, this type of behavior from them. I pray now that this groid is feral innocent humans are not hurt.

8. Bob_Realist Dec. 3, 2011 | 4:41 p.m. Report Abuse

   Matt, I volunteered for several weeks ata couple of the centers that do the paperwork and in all the time I was there I never heard anyone talk about halting benefits because a family member was in jail. I am a Veteran and I have appointments in the same parking lot as the Owens facility and to see the employees covorting with the recipients and see the blatant selling of benefits, right in front of the employees, makes me think there are more than just a few bad apples in the bunch. True, most of the employees are upstanding citizens but if the Owens facility is any type of marker for corruption, we have a serious problem and have had so for years. If research were done on those who spent multiple trips to jail or prison there would be a lot of overpayment notices going out. I'm sure you have read my 15% Plan by now and with that plan the over worked and under paid personnel would receive a reprieve and the system will correct itself by pointing out the fraudsters whether they be people on the dole or people on the payroll...Bob

9. Frank.Pelteson Dec. 3, 2011 | 2:28 p.m. Report Abuse

   Under the new Obama rules of racial collectivism, the judge had to let him go for fear of reprisal.

10. Matt.Miller Dec. 3, 2011 | 10:48 a.m. Report Abuse

    Bob Your fraud statement is incorrect. - For families receiving Food Stamps, Federal Law states that they only need to report a change if they move out of state or if they start to make more than 130% of poverty.
    
    Also, If welfare knows the person is in Jail and will not be released within 30 days then they will take that person off the case.
    
    But this is only if welfare has knowledge that the person is in custody. Due to the high publicity of this case they most likely did remove him from the case.
    
    And if by chance they didn't, they will process an over payment and future payments will be reduced until it is all paid back. (if it applies, remember the family was not required to report the change)
    
    I personally know and have worked with a lot of people who work at welfare, most of them are under paid, and over worked, They have State and Federal laws they need to following when taking any type of action on a case and most take their job very seriously. Sure there are a few bad apples but that is with any job.

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