Murder trial begins for former police academy cadet

Pauline Bell

Friday, July 18, 1997 | 9:12 a.m.

Charles Early sacrificed a promising career with the Henderson Police Department when he killed Charles Vespia for $10,000 that Early ironically never got his hands on, a deputy district attorney has told a District Court jury.

Prosecutor Peggy Leen outlined her murder case against 25-year-old Early Thursday during opening statements in the courtroom of Judge Don Chairez, saying Vespia, 25, was killed in January 1996 for the money he was contributing in a deal to buy steroids.

"Charles Early laid in wait in the parking lot where Charles Vespia was murdered," Leen told jurors. "The state will prove that Charles Vespia was murdered for $10,000 in $100 bills he was carrying on his person," she continued.

"Charles Vespia was murdered over the money, greed and avarice that their involvement in steroids resulted in," she said.

Ironically, Early never got access to the money because it was hidden in a Ziplock bag, under a bullet proof vest and sweatshirt worn by the victim, Leen said.

Evidence in the trial also will show the murder weapon later was found in the trunk of Early's car and that both the defendant and his car were seen at the Legacy Legends, where the killing occurred in the hours before the shooting.

At the time of the slaying, Early was a week away from graduating from the police academy and becoming a Henderson Police officer.

Also involved in the deal was Carl Holmes, 22, who has already pleaded guilty to being an accessory in the killing. As part of a plea bargain in the case, Holmes is expected to testify that Early was the triggerman.

Holmes faces a maximum of five years in prison rather than the life prison term that a murder conviction would have carried. His sentencing is scheduled for next week.

Defense attorney Louis Palazzo told the panel that evidence will show that Holmes was the killer. He noted that the slaying occurred at the Henderson apartment complex where Holmes was living with his girlfriend and that the last number on Vespia's beeper was Holmes' residence.

Early left the apartments before the killing and "was at home minding his own business" when the slaying occurred and "now he finds himself before you," the defense attorney said. He wouldn't have sacrificed a promising career for the steroid money, the lawyer added.

"Mr. Early had no involvement in the murder of Mr. Vespia and you will be compelled to return a verdict of not guilty in this case," Palazzo concluded.

The state's first witness in the case, Dr. Robert Bucklin of the Clark County coroner's office, testified that Vespia had died of two gunshot wounds to the head.