Attorneys for Summerlin student accused in overseas assault appeal charges

Two students from a private Summerlin school accused of assaulting a classmate during an overseas field trip entered not guilty pleas Thursday, while their attorneys raised several issues following their recent indictments.

Attorneys for Dominic Kim are challenging the family court’s decision to try the 15-year-old as an adult, arguing that the state failed to charge the teen with the appropriate offense.

Both Kim and Vaugn Griffith, former students at the Alexander Dawson School, were indicted on one count of possession of child sexual abuse material, while Kim also faces two counts of child abuse, neglect or endangerment. In April, prosecutors filed a superseding indictment against both boys, maintaining the same charges while consolidating the cases and naming them co-defendants.

“We believe that the court abused its discretion,” said Joshua Tomsheck, who is representing Kim, along with defense attorney Joel Mann. “We filed a motion to dismiss based on the charging decision of the state, and, should that motion be granted, this court would never have jurisdiction over the matter.”

More than a month ago, lawyers for Griffith said they had filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.

During Thursday’s hearing, Kim and Griffith’s parents sat in the back of the courtroom, separated by about four feet of empty pew.

Tomsheck said that, because Kim was certified as an adult nearly five months after Griffith, his team was behind in the appeals process, which he expected to take months to settle. Tomsheck also noted that the charging issue he was bringing to the higher court had no binding legal precedent.

The defense attorney, echoing Griffith’s attorney, Tony Sgro, also asked District Judge Christy Craig for a stay in her court in the meantime.

“If it turns out that there’s an infirmity in the certification process, what we’re doing here is wasting this court’s time and resources,” Sgro said.

The judge did not rule on the stay — or on Sgro’s separate request to transfer of Griffith’s case back to juvenile court. He said this would allow him to address what he called a potential conflict of interest involving Family Judge Linda Marquis, who certified Griffith.

Instead, Craig pushed the case back two weeks while Chief Deputy District Attorney Stacy Kollins collected recordings from the defendant’s previous family court hearings for the judge’s review.

Craig also to provide case law about sending a case back to juvenile court.

“I want to see everything I can that would help me resolve the issue about what happened down there,” Craig said.

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.