LAS VEGAS — Four Hells Angels pleaded guilty Friday in Las Vegas to a single felony charge apiece stemming from a 2008 brawl with rival Mongols motorcycle gang members that authorities said left six people hurt at a downtown wedding chapel.
The pleas by Dominic Orlando, Frederick O'Dell, Brandon Young and John Dawson brought to five the number of men who have taken plea deals to avoid a retrial on multiple charges including attempted murder, conspiracy and taking part in activities of a criminal gang.
A sixth co-defendant, Armando Porras, is due to plead guilty Aug. 2 to the same charge. Porras' lawyer, Chris Rasmussen, has said his client isn't a Hells Angels member and wants to put the case behind him.
Orlando, O'Dell, Young, Dawson and Porras will face one to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine at sentencing scheduled in December.
One defendant, James Sexey, balked Friday at pleading guilty as scheduled to two felonies — coercion with force and battery with substantial bodily harm with the intent to promote, further or assist the activities of a criminal gang.
Sexey's lawyer, Dean Kajioka, said his client decided to instead stand trial beginning Aug. 5 with another accused Hells Angels member, John Merchant.
Friday's developments came after one other co-defendant, Jeffrey Murray, pleaded guilty July 17 to coercion with force and battery with substantial bodily harm with the criminal gang element.
Merchant's lawyer, Tom Pitaro, was in the courtroom for Friday's pleas by his client's co-defendants. Pitaro declined to comment afterward about how the pleas by six of eight men who stood trial with Merchant last summer would affect a retrial.
