Jury sentences Zane Floyd to death

Kim Smith

Friday, July 21, 2000 | 12:08 p.m.

Death is the sentence for Zane Floyd, the 24-year-old man who killed four Alberston's employees in June 1999 while stalking the aisles with a 12-gauge shotgun.

After more than 14 hours of jury deliberations over three days, the jury announced at 10:30 a.m. that it had reached a verdict.

The verdict, however, was not announced until about 11:30, after the court had had time to round up the attorneys, judge, and family members.

Floyd faced the death penalty on four counts of first-degree murder for his murderous rampage on June 3, 1999. The jury, which had found Floyd guilty on July 13, returned a death-penalty verdict on all four counts.

"It was an awesome decision," Judge Jeffrey Sobel said in court after the verdict.

Sy Kellogg, father-in-law of Chuck Leos, clasped his hands together and shook them when the death-sentence was announced concerning Leos. "He got exactly what he deserved," Kellogg said.

Floyd hung his head after the death sentence was announced.

On Thursday, the nine women and three men reviewed transcripts of the attorneys' penalty phase closing arguments and listened again to Floyd's statements to police.

Floyd, 24, was convicted 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 encountered and sending nearly 25 others running outside or into any hiding space they could find.

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

After giving himself up at the store, 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.

Floyd said, that was why he served four years in the Marine Corps.

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

Defense attorneys Curtis Brown and Doug 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 before he was born, 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, attorneys said.

District Attorney Stewart Bell and Chief Deputy District Attorney William 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 that he knew exactly what he was doing.

He had told the outcall service dancer he had 19 shotgun shells and 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.

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