A 35-years-to-life term followed Jordan Ruby’s prosecution built from surveillance video, a vehicle trail, forensic evidence and recorded communications.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Jordan Ruby once faced a prosecution in which Nevada authorities intended to seek the death penalty. Instead of putting the case before a jury, he ultimately admitted guilt and received 35 years to life in prison after investigators assembled evidence linking a silver BMW, surveillance recordings and multiple robbery scenes across Las Vegas.
The Sept. 24 sentence was the final step in a major change in Ruby’s legal position. He and co-defendant Jesani Carter had originally pleaded not guilty after a Clark County grand jury charged them in 2022 with crimes arising from a series of armed robberies that left Clarice Yamaguchi and Hyo Sup Um dead on New Year’s Eve 2021. Prosecutors later filed notices that they would seek capital punishment. By summer 2026, however, both defendants had reached plea agreements. Ruby pleaded guilty to first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon and attempted murder, creating a sentencing framework that replaced the risks and uncertainty of a death-penalty trial.
The prosecution’s case had grown substantially from the first hours after the shootings. At the outset, detectives were trying to determine whether several reports from different Las Vegas properties were connected. A woman had been fatally shot at Fashion Show mall, another person had been shot and killed at Palace Station, and other robbery or attempted-robbery calls had come from casino parking areas. A silver BMW repeatedly appeared in witness accounts and video. Investigators used that vehicle as one of the links between scenes before Ruby and Carter were arrested after the car later crashed.
Surveillance recordings supplied another link. Video from Fashion Show documented the confrontation involving 66-year-old Yamaguchi, who was visiting from Hawaii with her husband. Police said an assailant approached her in the garage and tried to take her purse. Her husband, Robert Yamaguchi, intervened and fought with the robber. A gunshot was fired during the struggle, striking Clarice Yamaguchi. The video showed the encounter and the assailant returning toward the BMW. Earlier footage connected to Wynn Las Vegas also showed an alleged robbery in which a suspect left a vehicle and took a woman’s purse, according to reporting on the evidence.
Other parts of the case did not have the same kind of direct video documentation. The later killing of 60-year-old Um at Palace Station was not described as having been captured from start to finish on camera. Police instead assembled surrounding evidence. Investigators said a woman had been robbed at gunpoint in the Palace Station garage before Um was found shot there and his wallet was missing. Surveillance material showed activity in the garage, including a security employee responding after gunfire, and the silver BMW connected to the suspects was also seen. Um was taken to University Medical Center, where he died.
Grand jury evidence added more material as prosecutors prepared the case. Local reporting described DNA evidence as well as a recorded jail telephone call. Prosecutors said Ruby told a woman during a call that he had come to Las Vegas to rob people over New Year’s. Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo made a similar claim in court filings, saying the defendants came to Las Vegas on the busiest day of the year to make money by robbing people in the tourist corridor. That alleged purpose was important because it gave prosecutors a theory connecting what otherwise might have appeared to be a collection of separate crimes at different properties.
The indictment reflected that broader theory. In February 2022, a grand jury charged Ruby and Carter with 13 counts, including two murder allegations, attempted murder, robbery, attempted robbery and conspiracy counts. The defendants were accused of crimes stretching from Dec. 30 through Dec. 31. Prosecutors later announced their intention to seek the death penalty, pointing to the two killings during the alleged robbery spree. The decision meant the case could have ended with jurors deciding not only guilt but, if legal requirements were met, whether the defendants should face Nevada’s most severe criminal punishment.
Ruby’s July 2026 plea removed that possibility for him. Before Chief District Judge Tierra Jones, he admitted guilt to first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon and attempted murder. The agreement narrowed the contested issues and avoided a trial in which prosecutors would have presented the accumulated evidence and witnesses while the defense challenged the state’s proof. It also ensured a lengthy prison sentence. When Ruby returned to Jones’ courtroom in September, the question was no longer whether he committed the admitted crimes. The remaining question was what sentence within the agreement and Nevada law the judge would impose.
The sentencing hearing introduced information that would have played a different role at trial. Ruby apologized and said he had no excuse for the killing. He told the court that he should not have been there and said he had to live with the knowledge that he took a loved one away from her family. DiGiacomo, while representing the prosecution, told Jones that Ruby had matured in custody and shown significant remorse. He also drew a distinction between Ruby and Carter, describing Carter as the leader of the broader series of crimes. Those comments provided context for the court without undoing Ruby’s admitted criminal responsibility.
Yamaguchi’s relatives presented the other side of the sentencing equation: the impact of a crime whose factual disputes had been resolved by the plea. Her daughter described the final struggle in terms of Robert Yamaguchi’s attempt to protect his wife. Robert Yamaguchi later said he had hoped for a death sentence and was disappointed by the term Ruby received. Jones acknowledged that punishment could not repair the loss. She told the courtroom that the grief would remain no matter what sentence she handed down and said she hoped the conclusion of the case could provide some closure.
The judge sentenced Ruby to 35 years to life and credited him with more than 1,000 days already served. The indeterminate sentence means the 35-year figure is a minimum rather than a guaranteed release date. The outcome also shows how far the case had moved from its original posture. Four years earlier, Ruby was an 18-year-old defendant held without bail and facing an indictment that exposed him to a possible capital prosecution. By September 2026, he was a convicted defendant whose guilty plea had fixed his legal responsibility and whose future would be measured in decades of incarceration.
Carter followed a separate plea path. Authorities said he agreed to plead guilty to all 13 counts against him, including charges tied to both killings and the robbery sequence. His agreement was reported to require at least 50 years in prison while eliminating the death penalty. The plea also contrasted with his public position shortly after the arrests, when he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that police had detained the wrong person. He said at the time that he had money, expensive clothing and a history as a high-level gambler, arguing that he had no reason to participate in robberies.
Although Carter was scheduled for sentencing Oct. 8, the sources reviewed for this report did not establish a verified later result from that proceeding. Ruby’s case, by contrast, now has a final trial-court sentence. Its path from surveillance footage and vehicle identification to a grand jury indictment, capital notices, negotiated admissions and a 35-years-to-life term illustrates how a criminal prosecution can change as evidence accumulates and the parties reassess the risks of trial.
The evidence explained how investigators linked events spread across Las Vegas. The plea determined that Ruby would no longer contest his guilt on the admitted counts. The sentencing hearing then addressed a different issue — how the law would punish conduct that left two families and a community dealing with the consequences of a robbery sequence that turned fatal before 2021 came to an end.
Author note: Last updated Nov. 9, 2026.