Decades In Prison for Teens Who Ran Down Retired Police Chief

On Tuesday, two young men received sentences of several decades in prison from a Clark County District Court judge for a fatal true crime that claimed the life of a retired police chief. Angry, the judge awarded them the longest sentence that she could under the plea deal. Read on for more details.

Retired Police Chief Died 

Jesus Ayala, 20, and Jzamir Keys, 18, deliberately drove their car into two cyclists in Las Vegas in August 2023. Sadly, the unprovoked attack by the teens killed a 64-year-old man. In fact, after a career of fighting crime, former California Police Chief Andreas “Andy” Probst, 64, died. Meanwhile, another cyclist, in his 70s, survived the assault.

Sentencing of the two former juveniles who were 16 and 17 at the time, arrived this week. When Ashleigh Banfield reported the outcome of the case on NewsNation on Wednesday, she described the judge as so angry that she was “trembling.” Apart from that, she also recapped the events that landed them in a prison for adults.

Not Expecting A Harsh Sentence

The sentencing of two teenagers for the fatal assault with a car, marked what commentator Ashleigh Banfield described as “judgment day.” The pair pleaded guilty to the crime while they were in the vehicle that they had stolen. But, it seems they didn’t expect a long sentence. They’d recorded the act and probably hadn’t expected the maximum prison terms allowed by their plea agreements.

As Banfield noted, “before I tell you what those sentences are,” she reminded folks that this isn’t the first of its kind. There was also a similar case “in New Mexico” involving younger offenders. However, what shocked everyone about Jesus Ayala and Jzamir Keys is that their video went viral, and notably, the two teens thought it was hilarious, laughing and joking. Banfield said that “the sound…still haunts this case.”

Laughing & Smirking

Banfield also reminded true crime followers that in court previously, the teens laughed and smirked at Probst’s widow and daughter. Not only that, but they also spent a bit of time “flipping them the bird.” However, their attitude changed at sentencing.

This time, there wasn’t any laughing and joking and they didn’t say anything. The presiding judge, visibly angry and at times trembling, directly confronted them by reading back their own statements. Notably, it included the claim by Ayala that he expected any consequences to “just be a slap on the wrist.”

20 Years To Life

The judge went hard, and in her report, Ashleigh let viewers listen to what she had to say to the offenders. She said: “I’m so offended.” Then, she talked about how they so callously just joked around and how so many people saw the footage. So, she said that “clearly,” they were about to “find out” what a “slap on the wrist” looked like.

Then, Ashleigh went back to the sentence. She said that one of the young adults will serve 18 years to life, and the other, 20 years to life in prison. Well, according to a correspondent, the family of Andreas “Andy” Probst obviously still grieve for him. But, they were happy to be able to finally express their own feelings in court. Nevertheless, the young men didn’t take the opportunity to say anything to the family.

Crime Viewers React

In the comments section, those who followed the case felt relieved that the outcome took two dangerous young men off the streets. One of them opined, “I’ve been waiting for this case to come to this beautiful end.”

Here are a few more responses from the discussion area:

• Good, I’m pleased. I remember this when it happened.
• It’s all fun and games while you’re sitting in jail. Prison is a different and new…experience though. They ain’t looking forward to that.
• Tough guy will get soft real soon… Great news.

What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below, and remember to come back here often for all your true crime news and updates.