A judge Tuesday agreed to hear testimony from one witness who traveled to Las Vegas from Oklahoma, but postponed the rest of a preliminary hearing for a 64-year-old ex-convict from Texas accused of opening fire at security guards at a Greyhound bus terminal.
Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Diana Sullivan set a March 12 date to complete the hearing and decide whether James Abney should stand trial on felony attempted murder, assault with a weapon and firearm charges that could get him decades in state prison.
Abney's public defender, Rafael Nones, sought the delay to prepare to examine several witnesses prosecutors planned to call. Nones said he also had yet to receive evidence, including a Greyhound station security video of the incident.
Abney, who told police he was homeless, remains in custody on $150,000 bail at the Clark County jail.
He is accused of firing five shots Dec. 5 inside and outside the bus station adjacent to the Plaza Hotel & Casino at Main and Fremont streets.
No one was injured, and police quickly arrested Abney while people scrambled to flee the bus station's waiting room. Some witnesses told police they hid in a broom closet until the shooting stopped.
Abney told police he was trying to get warm on a cold night when a uniformed security guard told him several times to leave.
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The security officer told police Abney pulled out a chrome .25-caliber handgun and fired one shot from a position so close he must have tried to miss.
Abney said he tried unsuccessfully to shoot himself before police arrived and he surrendered.
Records in Texas show that Abney was paroled in May 2010 from Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville after serving 33 years of a life sentence for aggravated robbery from Dallas County and murder in Walker County.
