Third trial may not happen in 24-year-old murder

Monday, May 11, 1998 | 9:54 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A man convicted twice of plotting to kill a wealthy Las Vegas woman, in a case that has spanned 24 years, makes his latest appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court which is opening a week of hearings in North Las Vegas today.

Frank LaPena has been in and out of prison since 1974 and is now asking that the first-degree murder charges be dismissed or he be given a new trial.

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Las Vegas, while working as a private lawyer in Las Vegas, was defense attorney for LaPena at the first trial in 1977. Chuck Lee, a candidate for Clark County sheriff, was involved in the investigation of the case.

"The instant case has apparently developed a life of its own and like the Energizer bunny, keeps going and going," David Schieck, LaPena's attorney, said.

This will be its fourth time in the Supreme Court.

In the early morning of Jan. 14, 1974, Marvin and Hilda Krause were confronted in their home in the Las Vegas Country Club Estates, 2995 Pinehurst St. Marvin, the slot machine manager at Caesar's Palace hotel-casino who was in his 60s, was hit on the head and seriously injured. He died about a year after the incident.

His wife, Hilda, 71 was strangled, her throat was slit and then she was stabbed twice in the back. Expensive jewelry was stolen from the home. Police, acting on a tip, arrested Gerald Weakland, who admitted he committed the crime.

He said, however, he was promised $10,000 by LaPena to kill Mrs. Krause and to make it look like a robbery. The prosecution's theory is that LaPena, then a bell captain at the Hacienda hotel-casino, had a girlfriend named Rosalie Maxwell who was friends with Marvin Krause.

The prosecution said the plan was to kill Hilda and have Maxwell marry Marvin leading to her receiving a substantial part of the Krause fortune, which in turn would go to LaPena.

Weakland, although he admitted to the killing, was permitted to plead guilty to second-degree murder in return for his testimony against LaPena.

LaPena was convicted in April 1977. But the Nevada Supreme Court in April 1982 overturned the conviction saying the district court had made a mistake in admitting certain testimony and statements of Weakland.

LaPena was convicted again in May 1989 of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction in 1991.

Maxwell, who died recently, went to trial and was acquitted.

In 1992, LaPena filed a motion in district court in Las Vegas that he was entitled to a new trial. Without a hearing, the case was dismissed. But the Supreme Court then ordered the district court to hold evidentiary hearings.

District Judge Gene Porter in 1996 granted the LaPena motion, set aside the conviction and ordered a new trial. Porter ruled defense lawyers George Carter and LaMond Mills at the second trial failed to use known exculpatory witnesses and to investigate and present evidence which would have corroborated LaPena's testimony.

That new evidence entitled LaPena to a new trial, Porter ruled. The Clark County district attorney's office has appealed that to the Supreme Court which will hear arguments at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the North Las Vegas City Hall.

LaPena spent about 16 years in prison since his arrest but has been free on bail since Porter issued his ruling. Schieck said LaPena has spent more time in prison than Weakland, the actual killer. Weakland was paroled once or twice but was returned to prison for parole violations.

James Tufteland, chief deputy in the district attorney's office, said in his brief that defense lawyers Carter and Mills brought out the key points during the trial that Weakland had lied on several prior occasions and he had received a deal from the prosecution in exchange for his testimony.

Tufteland said the defense presented evidence that Weakland, who was the key witness for the prosecution, was a psychopathic liar. He argued there was no incompetence shown on the part of the defense lawyers when they declined to put LaPena on the stand at the second trial.

It was the decision of LaPena not waive his right to testify, Tufteland said.

Schieck said if there is a new trial, as ordered by Judge Porter, the defense will present evidence to show there was a relationship between Weakland and Marvin Krause and it was those two that plotted the Hilda Krause killing, not LaPena.

"The state ... is dogged in its determination to keep this case bouncing around the criminal justice system. LaPena has not yet had a fair trial," Schieck said.