Metro probes foul-up that put witness in cell with defendant

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 1998 | 11:18 a.m.

Clark County Detention Center officials have begun an internal investigation to determine how an admitted killer was placed in a holding cell with a man he accused of hiring him to commit murder.

"It is very rare that something like this happens because of the safeguards that are in place," Metro Police spokesman Ed Meriwether said Tuesday. "The matter is being investigated internally to prevent such future incidents."

Prior to court Monday, David Lemons, a key witness in a murder-for-hire case, was placed in a holding cell with a group of inmates that included Bruno Vito, one of two people he says hired him to kill computer programmer Larry Volk in 1990.

Lemons told District Judge Joseph Bonaventure during court proceedings that he suffered a bruise under his left eye from a head butt during an altercation in the holding cell.

"Normally, when someone is picked up on a warrant as a witness it is marked on their paperwork at the time of booking," said Meriwether, who was speaking on behalf of the jail which, along with the guards, is under Metro's jurisdiction.

"We keep people segregated for a number of reasons."

Meriwether said that in addition to separating witnesses from suspects, members of rival gangs and other people who tend to be violent also are kept apart.

Still, fights break out with no prior warning. In those incidents, guards move the apparent aggressor to another cell or to solitary, Meriwether said.

The District Attorney's office said Bruno wasn't scheduled to be in court Monday, but a paperwork snafu placed Bruno's case on the court calendar.

Because both men were headed to Bonaventure's courtroom, they were placed in the same holding cell at the detention center by jailers who were unaware of their ties to one another, officials said.

In 1993, Lemons was acquitted of murder by a jury in the slaying of Volk. He later admitted to killing Volk and told police Bruno and Soni Beckman hired him for $5,000 to do the slaying.

Lemons, who cannot be tried again because double jeopardy is unconstitutional, recently was taken into custody on a material witness warrant because prosecutors had lost touch with him for the June 14 trial of Bruno and Beckman.

Bonaventure released Lemons after he promised to keep in contact with prosecutors.

Volk was killed after informing gaming authorities that the operators of American Coin Company had instructed him to alter the computer chips in video poker machines to prevent the largest payoff.

After Volk revealed the computer chip scam, the company -- the state's fourth largest slot route operator that had more than 1,000 machines in Las Vegas -- was closed by state gaming regulators in 1990.