Man sentenced to life gets new trial

Friday, March 26, 1999 | 10:32 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for William C. Schoels, sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the murder of a man after a basketball game at a sports complex in Las Vegas.

The court last year upheld the first-degree murder conviction but in a decision issued Wednesday agreed it had made an error in its first ruling. It overturned the conviction and sent the case back to Clark County District Court.

Schoels was convicted of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm by an ex-felon for the fatal shooting of Gregory Hayes.

Before the first trial, Schoels sought to plead guilty to being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm. But District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski denied the motion to change his plea.

Schoels complained this was wrong. If he had been allowed to plead guilty, that felony count could not have been presented at the murder trial. And it would have stopped the introduction of a prior conviction of robbery at the murder trial.

The Supreme Court agreed, saying the issue of first- vs. second-degree murder was close at the trial.