A pair of smirking thieves blamed alleged police brutality for a high-speed chase that killed a 101-year-old World War II veteran in Las Vegas.
Lorraine Alvarado, 34, and Kassandra Alvarez, 32, deflected responsibility for Army veteran Herbert Muskin’s 2023 death during a court trial where they were sentenced to 14-40 years and 10-30 years in prison, respectively.
“I would like to say that it was the tactics and the brutal, excessive force that the officers used that spiraled the situation out of control,” Alvardo said in court before her sentencing on Wednesday.
“A lot of things could have been prevented that night if the high-speed chase would have been called off,” she added.
The two women robbed a Las Vegas sporting goods store at gunpoint near the intersection of Sahara Avenue and Decatur Boulevard, before carjacking a vehicle and fleeing the area and from police.
Alvarez, who was driving the car, drove over 17 miles from the store and was going 80 mph when she crashed into Muskin’s vehicle that had been stopped at a red light at the intersection of Sunset Road and Stephanie Street in Henderson.
Alvarado jumped out of the car and attempted to flee the scene before she fell to the ground and pointed a gun at the chasing officers, who fired 16 shots at her, according to bodycam footage obtained by Fox5 Vegas.
The then-31-year-old was struck by the gunfire and hospitalized.
Muskin, who was with his wife returning home from a trip to Costco, was rushed to a hospital, where he died weeks later from aspiration pneumonia. Doctors ruled his death was the result of the blunt force injuries he sustained in the crash.
After Muskin’s death, both Alvarez and Alvarado were indicted on murder charges.
Attorneys for the women argued in court that an autopsy should have been performed after Muskin’s death certificate listed global geriatric decline as a significant condition to his death.
Judge Michelle Leavitt did not dismiss the murder charges after hearing the defendant’s argument.
Alvarez and Alvarado reached plea deals with prosecutors in January, where they pleaded guilty to lesser crimes.
Alvarez pleaded guilty to robbery with a deadly weapon, reckless driving resulting in substantial bodily harm and grand larceny.
Alvarado pleaded guilty to robbery with a deadly weapon, resisting a peace officer and assault on a protected person.
During the sentencing, Alvarez apologized to Muskin’s family nearly three years after his death.
“I pray that you may have peace and forgiveness in your hearts and may you leave here with lighter spirits,” she said. “Today, I want to take accountability for my actions and, with this sentence, right my wrongs with dignity and respect.”
Alvarado also acknowledged the grieving family but did not take full accountability for the deadly crash.
“I did not murder no one, but I know that I hurt their family,” she said.
Muskin was remembered as a hero who served in Germany as a US Army chaplain during World War II before returning home and becoming an orthodontist, providing free care to some of his patients, who included disabled children.
“He was exceptionally likable and treated everyone who sat in his dental chair with kindness and respect,” his son Jon Muskin said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“He survived a century of living and he did not survive a trip to Costco,” Jon Muskin said about his father. “That is what I have to carry. That is what my brother has to carry. That is what my daughters will carry for the rest of their lives.”
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