This is a timely question on a number of fronts, not least in light of our new Reader Poll concerning your attitude/feeling about Las Vegas' crime statistics and how safe you feel in this city (check it out if you haven't yet voted).
Getting back to the question in hand, however, while Nevada recently came under fierce fire for the cash-strapped state's so-called "Greyhound Therapy" policy of exporting mentally ill patients back to wherever they came from, equipped with nothing more than a one-way bus ticket and a packed lunch (if they were lucky), followed this week by the announcement that, due to budget cuts, Metro will no longer be responding to non-injury vehicular accidents, we have not yet reached such a low point as to be deliberately allowing convicted felons to carry on their business as usual, without the hindrance of a jail sentence.
First, we need to clarify a few misconceptions, as stated in your query. For one thing, the parking lot of the Meridian was not the crime scene; it was merely the location where Metro subsequently found the getaway car Harris was driving. Secondly, there seems to be some confusion with regard to chronology, so permit us to clarify:
It was back in 2010 that the now 27-year-old Ammar Harris was first accused of sexual assault, rape, and robbery by an 18-year-old woman with whom he was living (and apparently living off). However, at the time, the young dancer refused to testify, no doubt fearing later repercussions, and moved from Las Vegas to Texas, at which point the charges were dropped due to lack of a witness/case.
Fast forward to the early hours of Feb. 21, 2013, when Harris allegedly got into an argument with an aspiring rapper named Kenneth Cherry Jr. in the valet parking area at Aria. The fight didn't end there, however, but escalated into a lethal dose of road rage when Harris pursued Cherry and the passenger in his gray Maserati down the Strip, firing shots with a handgun from his black Range Rover -- the vehicle later discovered at the Meridian. One of the shots proved lethal and with its driver deceased and passenger also injured with a serious but non-fatal gunshot wound, the Maserati careened into a Las Vegas cab. The taxi exploded in a fireball on impact, killing 62-year-old driver Michael Boldon and his passenger, Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, 48, who was in town from Washington for a trade show.
In addition to Cherry's passenger, who took a bullet in the arm, four other people in four other vehicles were hurt, mercifully none seriously, in the chain-reaction of collisions that followed the initial impact. By this point, it was approximately 4:20 a.m. and Harris, along with three female passengers, fled in his SUV down Las Vegas Boulevard, although numerous witnesses collectively could document the entire incident, aided by surveillance footage and audio recordings, from the initial argument at Aria to the deadly crash and its aftermath.
After a week-long manhunt, Ammar Harris was found at what was described as a luxury apartment complex in the Studio City area of Los Angeles. His known track record includes a previous felony weapon conviction in South Carolina and misdemeanor conviction in Atlanta for marijuana possession. While he's never been convicted of pimping, the evidently none-too modest nor discreet Harris has been known to post videos of himself on YouTube, fanning $100 bills and boasting about how the life of luxury he enjoyed living from the earnings of prostitutes.
It was at this point, after the nationally publicized carnage on the Strip and word of Harris' arrest, that the alleged victim of the earlier rape and robbery charges came forward and returned to Las Vegas to testify against her former pimp in front of a grand jury. And, as we pointed out at the top of this answer, your question is particularly timely since it was yesterday, February 26, that Ammar Harris was sentenced to 16 years to life in the sexual assault and robbery case. While it seems the best Harris' defense attorney could offer was that his client's history "is not as bad as they say," he is now facing the death penalty in the subsequent triple-murder trial, which is scheduled to begin Dec. 2.
