Jury considers sentence for trio convicted in cabbie’s death

Tuesday, March 23, 1999 | 10:07 a.m.

Defense lawyers for Weston Edward Sirex, 24, of Reno, and Fallon residents Latisha Marie Babb, 19, and Shawn Russell Harte, 20, on Monday argued their clients should be spared the death penalty.

"The state has brought into this courtroom the specter of life and death," said John Ohlson, defense lawyer for Sirex. "I'm gong to ask you to consider that the death penalty in this case is wrong. I'm going to ask you to choose life over death."

Other sentencing options include life sentences with or without the possibility of parole.

Sirex, Babb and Harte were convicted last week of murdering Reno-Sparks cab driver John Castro during a 1997 robbery that netted $89.

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