2nd jury also says murderer should die

Kim Smith

Friday, March 17, 2000 | 12:06 p.m.

Once again a Las Vegas man has been sentenced to death for the March 1995 shooting death of a local elementary schoolteacher.

A Clark County jury decided Thursday afternoon, after two days of deliberations, that Charles Edward Manley, 53, should be executed for the death of Roxanne Logan, 43.

It was the second jury to do so. Manley was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1997, but the Nevada Supreme Court overturned the conviction, prompting a second trial.

Because the jury appeared to him to be taking a long time, Logan's brother, Gary Erwin, said he was starting to worry the second jury would recommend a life sentence.

"To quote Dan Seaton (Manley's first prosecutor), 'If there was ever a candidate for the death sentence, it is Charlie Manley,' " Erwin said. "He has devastated so many lives and exhibited such arrogance and such a lack of remorse."

Prosecutors contended that Manley was a master manipulator with no job and no money who managed to move in with Logan the second day after he met her. When Logan began pressuring him to move out, prosecutors alleged Manley shot her in the head.

Defense attorneys said Logan died as a result of an accident, that Manley fell on her while struggling to take the gun away from a despondent Logan and the gun went off.

In pursuing the death penalty, Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent told jurors that Manley has an arrest record dating back to the age of 15.

Manley has been convicted on multiple counts of assault and robbery with a deadly weapon in addition to charges of burglary, car theft and breaking and entering.

Chula Vista, Calif., resident Roberta Bevington testified that she and a houseful of her guests were robbed at gunpoint by Manley and an accomplice in 1980. During the robbery, Bevington told jurors that Manley touched her inappropriately and sexually assaulted her with the barrel of an AR-15 rifle.

Defense attorney David Schieck argued that Manley hasn't been in trouble for almost 20 years.