Court news briefs

Thursday, April 29, 1999 | 11:18 a.m.

Narrower charge sought in killing

For nearly three years, the murder case against Darris Taylor has been pending in the local legal system.

The trial was set to go earlier this month in District Court when prosecutors amended the case to broaden the scope of the crime and, according to Taylor's attorney, make it nearly impossible for him to defend Taylor.

On Tuesday attorney Dayvid Figler asked District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski to narrow the charges back to the original claim by prosecutors that his client was the triggerman in the March 1996 shooting death of Charles Melvin Rayford, 28, of Ontario, Calif.

The district attorney's office has, in effect, widened the charges to allege that even if Taylor, 25, didn't do the actual killing he conspired with someone else to do so.

Figler argued it is unfair to amend the charges three years into the case.

In July 1996 Taylor, then being held in the Clark County Detention Center on a robbery charge, was rebooked on a murder count.

Metro Police homicide investigators at the time said they had evidence linking Taylor to the Rayford slaying.

Man, 69, charged in death of woman

A Clark County grand jury has indicted a 69-year-old Las Vegas man in the March 7 stabbing death of a woman police described as his girlfriend.

The 17-member grand jury met Tuesday and returned the indictment Wednesday that charges James Henry Burks with murder.

Debra Ann Boykin, 42, a native Las Vegan and mother of two who worked as a laundry presser, died at University Medical Center shortly after being stabbed while visiting friends at an apartment in the 500 block of South 13th Street, Metro Police said.

Burks, also known as Fisherman, was found in the 2200 block of East Fremont Street about 1 p.m. March 8 by the victim's family and friends and held for police, who booked him into the Clark County Detention Center.