Death sentence will not be sought against teenagers

Bill Gang

Monday, Feb. 8, 1999 | 12:26 p.m.

The death sentence will not be sought against two teen-agers charged in the murders of a woman known as the "Candy Lady" and her male friend.

Justice of the Peace Jennifer Togliatti ruled at a preliminary hearing Friday there is enough evidence to hold Shauntay Wheaton, 15, and DeAngelo Mitchell, 16, on murder, robbery and conspiracy charges. Most of the evidence came from statements the teenagers made.

But, noted Deputy District Attorney L.J. O'Neale as he explained the decision at the hearing, Wheaton, who is alleged to have been the gunman, is too young to be eligible for the death penalty, and Mitchell is alleged to have played a lesser role.

Flora Johnson, 86, and Azel Evans, 71, were shot to death during an apparent robbery in their home at 832 Blankenship Ave., near H Street, on Sept. 23.

At Friday's court session, Clark County Detention Center corrections assistant Ruth Curtis testified that when she was fingerprinting Wheaton, he blurted out that he was the killer.

"He cried and said he shot two people because he didn't want them to tell on him," Curtis said. She added that Wheaton then asked if he could go home and she told him no.

Curtis said she gave the same response when Wheaton asked if he could get probation, explaining the penalties for first-degree murder were life in prison with or without the possibility of parole or the death sentence.

In Nevada, minors charged with murder automatically are charged as adults.

Metro Officer Kevin McClary testified that when he transported Mitchell from the detective bureau to the jail, the teenager admitted he and Wheaton had gone to Johnson's home to rob her.

Wheaton and Mitchell were captured a short distance from the home of Johnson, called the "Candy Lady" because she sold candy, sodas and ice cream to neighborhood children although she was half-blind and barely able to walk with a cane.

The teenagers were identified by an earlier witness as the youngsters she saw running from Johnson's home after gunfire was heard. A pistol was found under a nearby tree.

Metro homicide Det. David Mesinar has testified that both defendants gave statements after their arrests and admitted being at the murder scene, but both said the other was the triggerman.