Brothers face murder charge

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Phil Stake
Staff writer

GALLUP — Milton and Larrison Bryant, two brothers charged with killing 34-year-old Dewayne Chavez Sept. 3, 2008, and raping a young woman, waived their preliminary hearing at Magistrate Court Friday.

After two hours of negotiating, attorneys representing the brothers agreed to waive the hearing, which is intended to find probable cause on felony-level charges.

Prosecutor Bernadine Martin said she agreed to a change in the criminal complaint against the Bryants, which effectively closes the open-count murder charge. The brothers are now charged with second-degree murder in addition to kidnapping, criminal sexual penetration and conspiracy. Milton Bryant, the older brother, also faces a tampering charge.

“The state was agreeable to lowering the open-count murder charge,” Martin said Friday.

Closing the open-count murder charge eliminates the possibility that the Bryants will be tried for the more serious offense of first-degree murder.

Martin said the Bryants will be arraigned in District Court within the next 30 days, after which the state will have six months to hold trial. The brothers are being held on $50,000 cash or surety bond at the Gallup McKinley Adult Detention Center.