Killer’s life sentences to run consecutively

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2000 | 9:56 a.m.

A Las Vegas man linked to a quadruple slaying because of his "scary eyes" was sentenced to four consecutive no-parole life sentences Tuesday.

Richard Powell's fate was sealed in November when a jury convicted him of four counts of first-degree murder and sentenced him to no-parole life terms instead of the death penalty.

District Judge Michael Douglas, however, had to decide Monday whether Powell, 37, should serve his life terms one after the other or at the same time.

Prosecutors convinced jurors that Powell shot Samantha Scotti, 24, Lisa Boyer, 26, Jermaine Woods, 19, and Stephen Walker, 18, to death in May 1992. They alleged that Powell was angry that Scotti set up a drug buy between him and undercover officers that ultimately led to a federal prison term.

The three others were killed because they just happened to be in Scotti's home at the time.

A 4-year-old girl and a toddler were spared from the killing spree and the girl's account of what happened that night eventually led police to Powell and Vernell Ray Evans Jr., who is now on death row.

The girl told police Evans and a man with "scary eyes" shot Woods, Walker and Boyer in the living room before shooting Scotti multiple times while she was in the shower. She later identified Powell as the man with the scary eyes during his federal drug trial.

Chief Deputy District Attorney L.J. O'Neale told Douglas that although the issue of consecutive or concurrent is academic because Powell will never get out of prison anyway, "justice requires no less" than consecutive sentences.

"This was a monstrous crime committed for a monstrous purpose," O'Neale said.

Powell declined to comment when given the opportunity to speak.

When ruling that the sentences should run consecutively, Douglas noted Evans received the death penalty.

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