Las Vegas Sun

November 8, 2009

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New trial ordered; conviction tossed

Monday, March 13, 2000 | 11:32 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court has voided the first-degree murder conviction of Anthony Petty, who was accused of fatally shooting another man after an argument over a pair of pants.

The court said District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski erred when he refused to permit lawyers for Petty to introduce evidence about the violent nature of the victim, Ray Watts, who was shot six times in a Las Vegas apartment. Petty claimed self-defense and said he thought Watts had a knife. It turned out to be a fountain pen.

Petty was packing to leave Las Vegas in September 1997 when Watts entered the apartment and demanded the pants Petty was putting in a suitcase. Petty told him to "stop playing around," according to the Supreme Court opinion.

The two continued their argument, and Petty fired a shot hitting Watts. After the first shot, Petty walked toward the victim firing multiple bullets.

He said he feared Watts, and during the trial his attorney tried to call two probation and parole officers and a police officer to testify about Watts' past brushes with the law.

One probation officer would have testified about a pre-sentence report in 1990 on Watts after he was convicted of robbery with use of a deadly weapon.

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