Defense attorney says suspect in quadruple slaying is mildly retarded

Thursday, June 17, 1999 | 12:28 p.m.

Attorney Tony Sgro didn't deny Wednesday that capital murder defendant Sikia Smith participated in an August robbery in which four young men were bound and executed.

The attorney asked a District Court jury to consider Smith's mental condition and whether he knew right from wrong.

But deputy District Attorney Gary Guymon contends Smith knew right from wrong.

Smith and two others are accused of killing four people in a Las Vegas home.

Sgro said Smith is mildly retarded, evidences brain damage dating from birth, suffers from attention-deficit disorder and used PCP on the night of the slayings. He said a psychologist will testify that Smith belongs to a class of people known as "idiots."

"This case is about an individual who is a foolish follower," said Sgro, who never acknowledged his client participated in the fatal robbery.

Guymon spent little of his opening statement on the mental capacities of the 18-year-old defendant.

While Guymon allowed that the 18-year-old Smith may well be mildly retarded, he also said Smith was intelligent enough to converse meaningfully with officers during his lengthy confession.

"He knew right from wrong," Guymon said.

Smith and two other men have been charged in the Aug. 14 slayings of Jeffrey Biddle, 19; Tracey Gorringe, 20; Matthew Mowen, 19; and Peter Talamantez, 17.

Each victim was bound with duct tape and shot once in the back of the head.