Co-defendant gets 3 to 8 years after plea deal in Javon Walker robbery in Las Vegas

3 to 8 years for co-defendant in Javon Walker case

LAS VEGAS — A co-defendant who took a plea deal in the robbery of former NFL player Javon Walker was sentenced Wednesday to three to eight years in Nevada state prison.

Arfat Abdo Fadel, 32, has already served more than two years behind bars since his arrest several days after the June 2008 attack. He pleaded guilty before trial in April to felony robbery, conspiracy to commit kidnapping and second-degree kidnapping, and testified against accomplice Deshawn Lamont Thomas, 42.

Fadel declined to make any statement Wednesday as he stood in shackles for sentencing by Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Smith. Fadel’s lawyer, Michael Cristalli, later called the sentence fair.

Prosecutor Joshua Tomsheck told the judge that Fadel had no prior felony record and that Thomas was the one who robbed and beat Walker and left the former Oakland Raiders wide receiver unconscious off a side street near the Las Vegas Strip.

Smith on July 7 sentenced Thomas to life in prison without parole as a habitual criminal after a jury found him guilty of first-degree kidnapping, robbery, battery, battery with intent to commit a crime, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

Thomas’s lawyer, Betsy Allen, has promised to appeal. She accuses prosecutors of offering a “sweetheart deal” to Fadel to shape his testimony against her client.

Walker, 31, is now an unsigned free agent. He testified he was falling-down drunk when he got into a car with two men he didn’t know after a long night of partying at Las Vegas clubs.

Fadel testified he drove his girlfriend’s Range Rover while Thomas attacked Walker from behind and took Walker’s 2-carat diamond earrings and diamond-encrusted platinum watch and necklace.

Fadel testified that he didn’t see, but that Thomas told him he punched Walker outside the vehicle before they drove away.

Jurors were told Fadel’s girlfriend later redeemed two $1,000 Hard Rock Hotel & Casino poker chips that were stolen from Walker. She was not charged in the Walker case.