Court upholds LV murder conviction

Thursday, March 25, 1999 | 11:24 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court Wednesday upheld the second-degree murder conviction of Edward J. Phelps, sentenced to consecutive life terms with the possibility of parole for killing a Las Vegas man.

The court rejected the argument of Phelps' lawyers that there was insufficient evidence for the District Court jury to find him guilty. Phelps argued he believed the victim, Billy Matthews, was already dead when he dumped his body in a trash compactor and activated the machine.

Evidence at the trial showed this compaction killed Matthews by asphyxiating him.

The court said evidence at the trial showed Phelps believed Matthews stole a gold chain from him. They both worked at a grocery store, and Phelps lured Matthews into the meat cooler on June 19, 1996, where they drank beer.

Witnesses testified Phelps jumped Matthews from behind and started strangling him with twine. Phelps was quoted as saying, "It's payback time." After Matthews lost consciousness, Phelps put his knee behind the victim's head and smashed it against the ground twice.

The body was then tossed in the trash compactor and Phelps started the machinery.

The court, in its unanimous decision, said "The jury could reasonably infer from the evidence presented that the appellant (Phelps) murdered Matthews with the use of a deadly weapon with malice aforethought by strangling him, beating him unconscious, and suffocating him to death by compacting his body in the trash compactor."