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November 30, 2009

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Killer faces February trial on another slaying

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2000 | 10:40 a.m.

A February trial date has been set for the attempted murder trial of a Las Vegas man sentenced to death last month by a three-judge panel on another case.

Unless a plea agreement is negotiated, Donte Johnson, 23, will go to trial Feb. 20 for a May 4, 1998, shooting that left Derrick Simpson, 41, a quadriplegic.

The Simpson shooting took place just three months before Johnson, Sikia Smith and Terrell Young killed four Las Vegas men during a residential robbery that netted them about $200, a Sony Playstation and a videocassette recorder.

Johnson, who was the alleged triggerman, was convicted of first-degree murder in June. A three-judge panel sentenced Johnson to death last month after the jury couldn't reach a unanimous decision on the penalty.

Simpson told the jurors, and later, the judges, that Johnson was his crack cocaine supplier and they got into an argument when Johnson refused to sell him drugs.

Johnson shot him multiple times, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down, Simpson said. He spent three months in and out of a coma.

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