AP News, December 27th, 2007
Additional felony charges were filed Wednesday against three co-defendants who pleaded not guilty in a school bus stop shooting that wounded six people, authorities said.
A judge set a Jan. 10 preliminary hearing for 18-year-old Dresden Michael Williams, 20-year-old Erica Renee Adams and 17-year-old Franklin Jackson in the Dec. 11 shooting, a court clerk said.
Jackson, who initially was charged as a juvenile, is now charged as an adult in the case, said his defense lawyer, Joel Mann.
All three defendants pleaded not guilty to various charges in the 18-count complaint, Mann said. Mann declined to comment on details of the case.
Police and prosecutors allege that Williams and Jackson plotted with a co-defendant, Nicco Tatum, to ambush a teenager who scuffled with Tatum a day earlier after getting off a school bus from Mojave High. That teen was among the six people wounded by gunfire from .45-caliber and 9 mm handguns, police said. All the wounded have been released from the hospital.
Adams is accused of helping Williams elude police after the shooting, and of trafficking in cocaine and possessing a stolen car.
Tatum, 18, remained jailed Wednesday in Denver, where he was arrested Dec. 12 after stepping off a Greyhound bus on a trip to Chicago. He agreed not to fight extradition to Nevada, where he also faces charges that he shot a 40-year-old Las Vegas woman Dec. 5 in a separate case.
Prosecutor Victoria Villegas and lawyers for Williams and Adams did not immediately respond Wednesday to messages seeking comment.
