Vigilantes face criminal charges in deadly beating of abusive husband

Bill Gang

Wednesday, Nov. 24, 1999 | 9:33 a.m.

Compassion for a woman who had been severely beaten by her husband in 1997 prompted a retaliatory beating of the man by two patrons at a nearby bar.

But what was supposed to be an act of charity -- albeit a violent one -- turned ugly when the man died from the beating.

On Tuesday it resulted in the two patrons, Ted Rustin and Thompson Keith Yazzie, pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter charges in District Judge Jeff Sobel's courtroom.

The wife, 42-year-old Judith Ann Brown, already had pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for her role in the July 1997 death in a room at the High Hat Regency Motel, 1300 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

Although she pleaded guilty on Sept. 8, 1997, her sentencing is not scheduled until Dec. 14 because she was supposed to testify as a prosecution witness in the trial of Yazzie and Rustin that had been set for next week.

Brown faces up to six years in prison.

Rustin and Yazzie could receive prison terms of four to 10 years when they are sentenced Jan. 4.

While the pair reluctantly pleaded guilty as their trial date approached, they did so under a legal provision that does not require them to admit their responsibility for the crime -- but only to avoid the life sentences if they were convicted by a jury of first-degree murder.

Deputy District Attorney L.J. O'Neale said one of Rustin's hairs was found at the death scene and the victim's blood was discovered on one of Yazzie's shoes. In addition Rustin was seen by a witness leaving Gerald Brown's motel room.

Judith Brown has admitted that after she was beaten by her husband, she met the men at a bar and they asked her what had happened. When she told them about the incident, they agreed to beat up her husband in retaliation.

Police investigators said she took them to the couple's room, unlocked the door and let them in. She claimed she then left while Gerald Brown was beaten to death.