Change of venue hearing set for teens accused of murder

Tuesday, March 16, 1999 | 2:39 a.m.

Kyle Ray and Colby Becker, both 15, tentatively are scheduled to go to trial in Lander County District Court May 3, on three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Ray's parents and sister.

Leon Aberasturi, Lander County deputy district attorney, said moving the case to another court would prove costly to the county.

Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, and Assemblyman John Marvel, R-Battle Mountain, earlier introduced a bill in the Legislature seeking $200,000 in state money to help the county pay for the prosecution of Ray and Becker.

Marc Picker, an attorney for Ray, says the boys can't get a fair trial in Battle Mountain. He has filed a motion for a change of venue with Sixth District Judge Richard Wagner.

Prosecutors say the teens allegedly plotted the killings then traded off pulling the trigger in the triple-homicide that stunned the small mining town last May.

Lyon County District Attorney Robert Estes has been appointed special prosecutor in the case. The new Lander County District Attorney elected in November, Hy Forgeron, had been serving as co-defense for Becker.

The victims were Ray's parents, James, 42, and Kimberly, 37, and his sister, Jennifer, 12.

The boys will be tried as adults but are too young to be sentenced to death. If convicted, they face up to life in prison without parole.

The change of venue hearing originally was set for March 16, but Wagner pushed it back to April 6.

Aberasturi said there is no guarantee the county will get the $200,000 requested from the legislature. The measure has been referred to the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

"All they did was promise us the bill. We have to do some lobbying," he told the Elko Daily Free Press.