Trial in supermarket slayings delayed until July

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2000 | 12:51 p.m.

The murder trial of a man accused of gunning down four people in an Albertson's supermarket was postponed Thursday until July 10 because of unresolved legal issues.

Meanwhile, outcall entertainer Traci Carter, a key witness in the case, will be getting out of the Clark County Detention Center, where she has spent the last few weeks as a material witness.

Without comment, District Judge Jeff Sobel delayed the trial that had been set for March 6. When the judge set the trial last summer, he said extraordinary circumstances would be required to warrant a delay.

"Apparently he found extraordinary circumstances," District Attorney Stewart Bell said after Thursday's court session.

Sobel also ordered that Carter, who is pregnant and due to give birth next month, give a videotaped deposition on Wednesday to preserve her story. She has told police she was brutally raped by Floyd in the hour before the supermarket slayings.

In her statement to police, Carter said Floyd showed her his shotgun and told her he had 19 shells and planned to kill the first 19 people he saw.

Bell said Carter will be released from custody immediately after the deposition on Wednesday and will remain free as long as she contacts his office weekly. That had been the deal last year, but in November the weekly calls ceased and authorities arrested her.

Deputy District Attorney Bill Koot said Carter's testimony is critical, because Floyd's attorneys are pursuing a "state of mind" defense strategy, and Carter is the only one who can give first-hand evidence about his state of mind in the minutes before the shootings.

Floyd was arrested as he came out of the Albertson's carrying a 12-gauge shotgun. He later confessed to police.

Sobel has scheduled a July 5 hearing on the defense motion to suppress the confessions.