Jurors in Zane Floyd trial ask residents to pray for victims

Kim Smith

Friday, July 21, 2000 | 4:21 a.m.

Shortly after announcing this morning that Zane Floyd should be executed for his bloody rampage at a local grocery store, jurors asked Las Vegas residents to pray for his family and those of his four victims.

Juror Tim LeMaster, in a statement prepared by all of the jurors, noted that District Attorney Stewart Bell said in his closing arguments that he hoped today's papers would read "Justice has been served."

LeMaster said he and his fellows jurors think it should read "Prayer needed for Las Vegas."

The decision they made was the hardest thing they've ever had to do and no one will ever realize just how hard it was unless they, too, sit on such a case, LeMaster said.

The jurors met with Bell, Chief Deputy District Attorney William Koot and deputy public defenders Curtis Brown and Doug Hedger before meeting with the media.

Bell said the "theme" of their meeting was about how hard their decision was to make.

The district attorney said he hopes the community appreciates the "awesome responsibility" the jurors in the Floyd case undertook.

Brown and Hedger declined to comment.

The jurors resumed deliberations at 8 this morning to begin their third day of deliberations and announced they had a verdict at 10:30 a.m. The verdicts themselves were read at 11:30 a.m.

While the courtroom was typically packed during the trial with victims' family members, most of those gathered today were friends and family members of Floyd. A collective gasp was heard when the first verdict was read.

After the courtroom was cleared, Floyd's mother, Valerie, said, "We know how hard this decision was to make for those jurors, it was obvious. But, we hope this brings a sense of peace to the victims' families. We know there can be no closure, but we hope it brings a sense of peace."

Surrounded by about a dozen friends and family members, Valerie Floyd said, "We will continue to love and support our son, everyone here will."

Floyd, 24, was convicted last week on nearly a dozen charges stemming from a two-hour crime spree that took place in the early morning hours of June 3, 1999.

After repeatedly raping a young outcall service dancer in the guest house at his parents' home, Floyd dressed in military fatigues, hid a 12-gauge shotgun under a robe, and walked less than a mile to a Sahara Avenue grocery store.

Once inside, Floyd opened fire, shooting everyone he could find and sending nearly 25 others running outside or into any hiding space they could find.

Four people were killed. A fifth person, whose shooting was caught on videotape, survived two shotgun blasts after feigning death.

After giving himself up, Floyd told police that he had wanted to kill himself, but not before fulfilling two longtime fantasies -- one involving sex and the other experiencing what it would feel like to kill someone.

"I've always just wanted to know, call me crazy, psychotic, whatever, I've just always wanted to know what it's like to shoot someone...ever since I was a little kid, I've always, you know, every since I saw my first, my first war movies, I've always just wanted to go to war and kill people," Floyd said.

In fact, Floyd said, that was why he served four years in the Marines.

Psychiatric experts who testified on Floyd's behalf said Floyd has always suffered from feelings of uselessness and inadequacy and the Marines helped him feel like a man.

Brown and Hedger urged jurors to spare Floyd's life, arguing that a drunken Floyd committed the acts while suffering from an "extreme mental or emotional disturbance."

Floyd was born prematurely to a woman who abused drugs and alcohol throughout her pregnancy, he suffered from attention deficit syndrome and hyperactivity disorder, and he turned to drugs and alcohol at around age 15, the attorneys told jurors.

In the year before the shootings, Floyd was forced out of the Marines because of his drinking problem, was again rejected by the father who abandoned him prior to his birth, lost several low-paying jobs and was forced to move back in with his parents, the attorneys said. A favorite cousin also died in a drunken driving accident and his best friend admitted he was homosexual.

Bell and Koot argued for the death penalty on a number of statutory issues but also pointed out the devastation wrought on the victims' families by Floyd.

The prosecutors urged the jurors to look again at the videotapes showing Floyd methodically hunting and killing his victims, pointing out he knew exactly what he was doing.

He had told the outcall service dancer he was going to kill the first 19 people he saw, including himself, and he would have but for the grace of God, Bell said.

"If not this case, ladies and gentlemen, what case?" (deserves the death penalty) Bell asked.

Killed in the shooting were Lucy Tarantino, 60, Thomas Darnell, 40, Chuck Leos, 40, and Dennis "Troy" Sargent, 31. Zachary Emenegger, 21 survived the shooting and testified against Floyd.

Leos' father-in-law, Sy Kellogg, who sat in the front row during the entire trial, said Floyd "got exactly what he deserved."

Kim Smith covers courts for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-2321 or by e-mail at kimberly@lasvegassun.com.