Court briefs for June 2, 2000

Friday, June 2, 2000 | 10:15 a.m.

Woman sentenced in fatal incident

A 19-year-old Las Vegas woman was sentenced to four to 10 years in prison Thursday in a carjacking that left two people dead.

Jamie Aghas pleaded guilty in November to robbery and voluntary manslaughter in the August incident that ended in a traffic accident that killed Jeremy Michael Butler, 20, and Philip Gastineau, 41.

District Judge Kathy Hardcastle gave Aghas four to 10 years for the robbery with use of a deadly weapon count and ran two other sentences concurrent to it.

Defendant decides to use an attorney

A 34-year-old Las Vegas man charged with murder in the death of a state Board of Education member's son has decided he doesn't want himself as a lawyer anymore.

Scott Bedard Thursday agreed to allow attorney Peter Christiansen to represent him at his September trial.

Authorities believe Bedard was burglarizing a southwest Las Vegas office building in August 1997 when he was interrupted by Bill Hanlon Jr., the son of state Board of Education member Bill Hanlon Sr.

Hanlon was shot in the head.

Bedard has been representing himself since his arrest.

Benson to get psychological test

The preliminary hearing for the man accused of stalking comedian Jerry Lewis was postponed this morning by Justice of the Peace Deborah Lippis after it was decided he needs to be psychologically evaluated.

Gary Benson, who has already spent jail time for stalking Lewis and is under a court order to not contact the entertainer, was arrested last month in Wyoming after Lewis received a letter at his Las Vegas home on April 11 that read, "Dear Jerry, Your Dead." The letter was signed, "Your friend, Gary Benson."