Insets: Jordan Ruby and Jesani Carter. Background: The BMW Ruby and Carter crashed after a series of robberies and two killings in Las Vegas, Nevada. (KSNV).
A Nevada man has been sentenced to more than three decades in prison for killing a woman on the Las Vegas Strip during a robbery spree carried out on New Year’s Eve, which prosecutors described as the busiest day of the year to “make money.”
Jordan Ruby, 22, received a sentence Thursday of 35 years to life for the murder of 66-year-old Clarice Yamaguchi. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in August.
Ruby’s co-defendant, 24-year-old Jesani Carter, also pleaded guilty to killing Yamaguchi and 60-year-old Hyo Sup “Richard” Um, as well as multiple robbery charges. Carter is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 8.
Yamaguchi and her husband were visiting Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve 2021. As they walked through a mall parking lot toward their vehicle, Ruby and Carter pulled up in a BMW.
The passenger exited the car and demanded Yamaguchi’s purse. When her husband tried to fight him off, a gunshot was fired, striking Yamaguchi.
Yamaguchi’s daughter spoke in court about the moments leading up to her mother’s death.
“The last thing my mom witnessed was my dad fighting with everything he had against her attacker to protect the love of his life,” she said, according to local CBS affiliate KLAS.
Robert Yamaguchi told the court that he believed Ruby should have received a “death sentence.”
“I am really disappointed,” he said.
READ MORE: VMAs 2026 Best and Worst Moments: Dolly Parton Tributes and Madonna’s Bizarre Speeches
Prosecutors described Carter as the “leader of this rampage that went on in our community,” while saying Ruby had demonstrated remorse.
Ruby accepted responsibility for his role and said nothing could justify his actions.
“I should have never been there, and now I have to live with that for the rest of my life and I’m sorry,” he reportedly said. “And I took your loved one away from you, and the rest of her family. I am working on rehabilitating myself, growing, developing, God blessed me with a second chance.”
According to a courtroom report by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Ruby and Carter fled the scene and went to Sahara Las Vegas. There, they allegedly tried to steal a backpack from an employee and fired at him before heading to Palace Station.
At Palace Station, police said the pair robbed a woman at gunpoint in a parking garage. They then took Um’s wallet and shot him to death.
The two men escaped but were later arrested after crashing their BMW into a tree.
Before pleading guilty, Carter told the Review-Journal in a jailhouse interview shortly after his arrest that police had detained the wrong person. He claimed to be a high-stakes gambler who already owned expensive clothing and therefore had no reason to commit robberies.
“I’m gonna be free tomorrow,” he said.
The post Man who shot woman dead as her husband fought with “everything he had against her attacker to protect the love of his life” is headed to prison first appeared on Law & Crime.