A man who stole a Salvation Army bus and led police on a lengthy pursuit before striking and killing a motorcyclist was sentenced to eight to 20 years in prison Tuesday.
The sentence handed out to Jalen Felton, 25, by District Court Judge Crystal Eller was the maximum the judge could give under the terms of a deal reached with prosecutors in April.
Felton pleaded guilty to a single felony count of duty to stop at the scene of a crash involving death or personal injury in the collision that killed Ali Moussaoui, 28, on Jan. 21.
Moussaoui’s sister, Dima Moussaoui, attempted to read a statement to the court during the sentencing hearing but was unable to do so because she was overcome by emotion. Ali Moussaoui’s cousin, Karim Moussaoui, then read the statement on behalf of Dima Moussaoui and the family.
“He was a son, a brother, a nephew, a cousin, and a friend,” Karim Moussaoui said. “He was loved deeply by many people, not just here in Las Vegas but across the world including in Lebanon where our parents now sit, grieving the loss of their child from thousands of miles away.”
Felton initially faced DUI, hit-and-run and larceny-related offenses after the Metropolitan Police and North Las Vegas Police departments said he stole the bus and led officers on a pursuit in the west valley. Police said Felton stole the bus with a passenger inside from the area of Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards.
Both police departments chased Felton, who refused to stop and sped away. At some point, officers determined that the passenger had been let off the stolen transit bus, and the pursuit ended.
But minutes later, an air unit reported that the bus was involved in a wreck near West Tropicana Avenue and Grand Canyon Drive, police said.
It was there that Felton ran a red light and struck a motorcycle with the bus, police said. After the crash, he fled again and was later taken into custody and booked into the Clark County Detention Center. Testing later showed Felton was not under the influence at the time.
Felton, in a soft, barely audible voice, said in court Tuesday he was sorry.
“I just wanted to apologize to the victim’s family,” Felton said.
Felton’s defense attorney, Marsella Saldanha of the Clark County public defender’s office, said Felton has a history of serious mental illness since childhood. He also has extensive family support, she said, as she asked the judge to impose a sentence of two to five years in prison.
“From the time that I met him he’s been incredibly remorseful and regretful for his actions,” Saldanha said, adding “he is very mentally ill.”
Saldanha did not identify the nature of Felton’s mental illness, saying she did not want to get into specifics in open court.
Prosecutor Sammy Carey Lamb said the chase Felton led police on was extremely dangerous and covered much of the Las Vegas Valley. She did not dispute that Felton is mentally ill but said he chose not to take medications.
“The defendant made the conscious choice to not take his medications that would help his illness,” Lamb said. “Instead, he had a break that led to the death of an innocent man who was just riding his motorcycle through an intersection.”
Eller said that Felton has had family support in the past and he also had the opportunity for treatments he chose not to take.
“I understand you are not thinking clearly when you made those choices, but those choices have consequences,” the judge said.
The family said Ali Moussaoui’s death should have never happened.
“Nothing this court does today can ever bring Ali back,” Karim Moussaoui said. “Nothing can restore what was taken from him and us. But accountability matters. Recognition matters. The acknowledgement that a life was lost and that it mattered matters. That Ali mattered. Ali’s life had value, his future had value, his love for his family had value.”
Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com.
