Death penalty recommended for man guilty in Las Vegas Strip fireball crash that killed 3, including Washington woman

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada jury says a 29-year-old self-styled pimp should be sentenced to death for killing three people in a shooting and fiery crash on the Las Vegas Strip.


Ammar Harris was not in the courtroom when family members of the victims sobbed after the verdict was read Wednesday in Clark County District Court.

The jury deliberated about two hours after a two-day penalty hearing that Harris didn't attend.

He didn't testify at his trial or attend his penalty hearing. A forensic psychologist told the jury Harris was neglected, never went to school and was sexually abused growing up in poverty in the New York area.

The same jury took less than 20 minutes to find Harris guilty Oct. 26 of first-degree murder and other charges in the February 2013 vehicle-to-vehicle shooting that sparked a fireball crash.

He was convicted of shooting from a black SUV into a moving Maserati, mortally wounding an aspiring rapper behind the wheel. The sports car then crashed into a taxi, igniting a spectacular fireball that killed the driver and passenger inside. The passenger was Sandi Sutton-Wasmund, 48, of Maple Valley, Wash.

Police found no gun in the wrecked Maserati.