Witness testimony taped in quadruple murder case

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1999 | 10:15 a.m.

Saying she wanted to get out of jail and get on with her life, a key witness in a quadruple slaying recanted half a dozen earlier statements Tuesday and testified that her boyfriend was responsible for the deaths in August 1998 of four young men.

Charla Severs, 21, spent more than two hours on the stand as a videographer preserved her testimony in the murder case against Donte Johnson.

Although Johnson, 19, isn't expected to go on trial until March, prosecutors asked District Judge Jeffrey Sobel to put Severs on the stand early in case she would be unavailable at that time.

Severs disappeared earlier this year reportedly because she was afraid for her life, and prosecutors wanted to preserve her testimony in the event she disappears again once she is released from custody. She is currently being kept in jail as a material witness.

Johnson will be the third Las Vegas resident to go to trial in the murders of Matthew Mowen, 19, Jeffrey Biddle, 19, Tracey Gorringe, 20, and Peter Talamantez, 17.

Sikia Smith, 19, and Terrell Young, 20, were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty in their cases and will do so in the Johnson case.

Mowen's parents, David and Cindy, were present throughout the deposition.

Severs, who was crying and visibly shaking throughout her testimony, said that a few days before the killings Mowen came to the house she shared with Johnson, Young and three other men looking for crack cocaine.

After Mowen left, one of her housemates told them that Mowen had $10,000 stashed at his house.

Severs testified that on the night of Aug. 14, 1998, Johnson, Young and Smith left the house for about six hours carrying a duffel bag containing a revolver, a black automatic pistol and a rifle.

Johnson told her that "he was gonna go get some money," Severs said.

Severs said Johnson woke her up with a kiss to the cheek about 3 a.m. the next morning. She learned about Mowen's death after Johnson told her to watch the TV news. Johnson told her the four were "taken out" because Talamentez had been "disrespecting" him.

Under cross-examination, defense attorney Joe Sciscento asked Severs about the many contradictory statements she provided police and the grand jurors who investigated the case.

Sciscento pointed out that Severs told police that Johnson was wearing shorts on the night of the murders and yet she testified Tuesday that he was wearing black pants.

"The district attorney wants you to say Donte Johnson was wearing pants doesn't he?" Sciscento asked.

"Yes, because he was wearing black pants," Severs insisted.

According to earlier court testimony, pants believed to have been worn by Johnson that night have blood on them.

He also went over letters Severs has written Johnson and a local TV station since Johnson's arrest.

In them Severs said Johnson wasn't home on the night of the murders and Smith and Young forced her to go with them to rob Mowen and his roommates.

Severs said she went so far as to implicate herself in the murder because she loved Johnson at the time and still has feelings for him.

She and Johnson believed that if she lied, prosecutors would release him and she would be set free if she later claimed that Johnson had threatened her and forced her to lie about her involvement. Eventually, they would have met up again, Severs said.

Severs repeatedly denied her sole motivation in implicating Johnson was her desire to be released from custody.

"I have to tell the truth because I don't want to stay in jail," Severs said.

Sobel said he will decide Thursday if Severs can now be released from custody and, if so, whether she will be placed under house arrest or some other sort of restrictive measures.