LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It's an attack that shocked even veteran prosecutors and defense attorneys.
As I reported last year, despite the brutality of the case, Tavari Pearson was released on probation. Now, after admitting to new felony crimes, he's been sent to prison for up to 20 years.
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Court records show Pearson agreed to plead guilty to two counts of grand theft auto and one count of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. Records state that between September and November 2025, he stole two vehicles and had a 9mm handgun despite being a convicted felon.
Those new crimes violated the probation he received after he sexually assaulted and nearly killed his therapist at Spring Mountain Youth Camp.
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Attorney Rob Murdock represents the therapist Pearson attacked during an outdoor counseling session in May 2022 at the county-run Spring Mountain Youth Camp for juvenile offenders.
"There was such an obvious miscarriage of justice," he previously told me. "This is something that's so dangerous and so out of the norm for youth that it's scary."
Court records show Pearson pushed her to the ground, punched her repeatedly, hit her head with a rock, strangled her, and sexually assaulted her.
"She doesn't remember much. Thank goodness, in a sense," Murdock said. "On the other hand, she knows what she woke up to. She was basically left to die in a ravine. Thank God she was found."
Pearson originally faced six charges in that case, but took a plea deal and was sentenced to just six months in prison followed by five years of probation. He was released with credit for the time he had already served.
The court placed him on what's known as "only chance" status — meaning any new criminal violation could send him straight to prison.
"Judge [Ericka] Ballou gave him every chance under the sun and said if you come back, you're going to have a problem. Well, he's back," Murdock said. "He certainly didn't learn a lesson and sadly, not everybody does."
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Court records show Pearson was initially accused of committing 21 different crimes before accepting the new plea deal.
Now, a judge has revoked his probation and sentenced him to eight to 20 years in prison. Court records show Pearson received credit for the three and a half years he's already spent in custody.
Judge Ballou, who gave him that last chance and let him out on probation, was suspended after the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline found evidence of judicial misconduct in an unrelated case.
She resigned from her position and was permanently barred from ever being a Clark County District Court judge again.