Plea bargain made in killing to avoid third trial

Bill Gang

Monday, Feb. 15, 1999 | 11:13 a.m.

A 34-year-old Las Vegas man whose first two trials on murder charges in the shooting death of a methamphetamine dealer ended in hung juries has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, robbery and perjury counts.

In the deal Marty Horne will receive a sentence of eight to 20 years in prison. Since he already has spent nearly three years in jail awaiting resolution of his case over the 1995 slaying of Tom Kadlic, Horne will be eligible for parole in about five years.

Kadlic was killed with a shotgun blast and a pistol shot to the head. His body was hidden under some debris in a remote desert area.

Horne had been scheduled to begin his third trial Tuesday but agreed to the plea bargain with its relatively short prison sentence rather than risk a conviction for first-degree murder, which would have put him in prison for a minimum of 20 years.

Formal sentencing is set for March 25 in District Judge Kathy Hardcastle's courtroom.

At the earlier trials the case against Horne was hampered by the limited amount of physical evidence linking him to the slaying.

Deputy Special Public Defender Peter LaPorta had argued to the first jury that there were no fingerprints or other tangible evidence implicating Horne and charge the state's case was built on "smoke and mirrors."

Deputy District Attorney Michael O'Callaghan in that trial called witnesses who said Horne had talked of taking Kadlic into the desert and robbing him.

He charged that Horne's close friendship with the victim and his "gift of the tongue" made him the only person capable of luring Kadlic to his death.

Testimony at the trial indicated that Kadlic was known to flash large quantities of money and drugs.

O'Callaghan said Horne was broke just before Kadlic disappeared but had enough money to pay his rent just after.

In his testimony at the first trial, Horne swore he wasn't responsible for his friend's murder.

That testimony resulted in Friday's guilty plea to a charge of perjury.