High court upholds verdict in Vegas slaying

Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2000 | 9:41 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- While there may have been two and possibly three errors at trial, the Nevada Supreme Court Monday upheld the first-degree murder conviction and death penalty for Robert Byford, who in 1992 shot a young woman in the desert near Las Vegas.

The court, in a decision written by Justice Miriam Shearing, said the errors were harmless and the outcome of the trial would have been the same because of the overwhelming evidence against Byford.

Byford and his companion, Christopher G. Williams, felt slighted by 18-year-old Monica Wilkins, according to court records.

The two men, along with Todd Smith, drove Wilkins into the desert. Williams shot Wilkins several times with a handgun. While she was on the ground, Byford took the handgun and fired two shots into her head, killing her. He then burned the body.

Upon returning to Las Vegas, Byford told Smith he would kill him if he ever told anybody about the murder. A week later, the three returned to bury the body, which was eventually uncovered by target shooters.

Smith agreed to testify for the state and pleaded guilty to one count of accessory to murder. Byford and Williams were convicted and sentenced to death. But the Supreme Court in 1997, ruling that their rights to remain silent had been violated, overturned their convictions.

At a second trial, both men were again convicted. Byford received the death penalty and Williams was given life in prison without possibility of parole.

At the second trial, Williams introduced testimony from the first trial that showed Byford had a prior felony conviction for attempted possession of a stolen vehicle. And the prosecutor in his closing argument referred to Byford as a convicted felon.

The court said the evidence of Byford's prior conviction should not have been admitted into evidence and that the prosecutor should not have made that remark.

Shearing said reversal of the conviction, however, is not warranted because the result would have been the same if District Judge Joseph Bonaventure had not admitted the evidence. The court also said it may have been an error for the prosecutor to comment on the failure of Byford to call a witness. But the error was harmless, the decision said.

The court rejected claims that Byford should have received a separate trial from Williams, that he was denied the right to a speedy trial, that admission of photographs of the victim and the maggots collected from her body were prejudicial and that jury instructions were not correct.

Byford argued the death penalty was excessive because his co-defendant received life in prison. Byford, through his lawyers, said the 17-year-old Williams had shot the victim first and had been a worse disciplinary problem in a previous prison sentence.

Byford said he was less culpable in the killing and that he had been an exemplary prisoner during his years in prison and he was only 20 at the time of the killing.

But the court said Byford's criminal record prior to the murder was worse than Williams' record.

Byford was on probation at the time and Williams was younger than Byford when the killing took place. And Byford fired the fatal shots, threatened to kill Smith and then took the initiative in concealing the crime. Byford's juvenile record also involved a burglary in 1984 and carrying a concealed weapon in 1987.