Ex-girlfriend testifies in quadruple slayings

Kim Smith

Thursday, June 8, 2000 | 11:25 a.m.

Yes, she lied to police. Yes, she lied to grand jury members, prosecutors, TV news reporters and her boyfriend. But, Charla Severs insisted Wednesday, she is telling the truth now.

"I just want to get it over with," Severs said on the second day of her former boyfriend's murder trial.

Her ex-boyfriend, Donte "Deco" Johnson, is one of three young men accused of robbing and killing four Las Vegas men on Aug. 14, 1998.

Johnson is the last of the three to go on trial. His co-defendants, Terrell "Red" Young and Sikia "Tiny Bug" Smith are serving no-parole life sentences after being convicted of murder last year by separate juries.

According to authorities, the three young men went to the Terra Linda Avenue home of Matthew Mowen, 19, in the hopes of stealing $10,000 and some drugs.

Mowen and three of his friends, Jeffrey Biddle, 19, Tracey Gorringe, 22, and Peter Talamantez, 17, were bound with duct tape and, authorities say, shot in the head by Johnson as Young and Smith acted as lookouts.

The trio ended up with about $240, a VCR, Play Station and pager.

Severs, who began dating Johnson one month before the murders, was the first witness to take the stand Wednesday morning.

She told Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Guymon that a few days before the killings Mowen came to the house she and Johnson were staying at, looking to buy some crack cocaine from Johnson. After he left, one of their housemates, Tod Armstrong, told them that Mowen had $10,000 and some psychedelic mushrooms in his home, Severs said.

On the night of Aug. 13, Severs said she saw Johnson, Young and Smith leave the home with a duffel bag filled with guns. The next morning, a "hyped up" Johnson came home and told her about the killings.

Severs told Guymon that she told a series of lies over the course of a few months because Johnson was her first love and she wanted him to be free so they could be together.

Severs first said she had just met Johnson and didn't know anything about the killings, then she said Johnson was with her that night, and that a friend committed the killings. Then she said she killed the men.

At one point, Severs said she and Johnson concocted a story together. She told police that she committed the killings in the hopes that Johnson would be released from jail. Once he was out, Severs said she was going to tell police Johnson forced her to lie so she would be released. Once both of them were out, they were going to leave the state together.

Severs said she also lied about a pair of black jeans found with Gorringe's blood on them, saying Johnson didn't own such a pair and he wore shorts the night of the killings.

Deputy Special Public Defender Joe Sciscento opened his cross-examination by asking Severs about yet another lie.

Sciscento asked her if it was true she had sent Johnson a photograph of a baby, telling him it was the baby she was carrying at the time of the killings even though she had miscarried that child.

Severs said yes and then replied she didn't think anything was wrong with that. She later told Guymon she thought it would make Johnson happy.

Under cross-examination, Severs admitted she never saw what was inside the duffle bag on the night of the killings and that when Johnson came home afterward Armstrong asked him where his cocaine was.

Sciscento and co-counsel Dayvid Figler believe Armstrong was behind the killings and prosecutors told jurors he could still be charged in connection with the incident.

Severs also told Sciscento that Armstrong smoked crack cocaine constantly almost every day.

The defense attorney grilled Severs on her inconsistencies and her reasons for telling the "truth" now. She steadfastly denied she was testifying so prosecutors will dismiss a stolen car charge pending against her.

She did admit, however, that she believes that if her testimony differs from a video deposition she gave in December, that charge will not be dismissed.

Also testifying Wednesday were several police officers and crime analysts involved in the case.

Jurors were expected to hear this morning from a handful of defense witnesses, including a DNA expert. They are expected to hear closing arguments this afternoon.