New trial denied in killing

Kim Smith

Thursday, May 25, 2000 | 10:45 a.m.

A Las Vegas bounty hunter who was sentenced to life in prison for killing a man who bit off a chunk of his ear has lost a chance for a new trial.

District Judge Mark Gibbons ruled Wednesday that although Dennis Keith Kieren says there is new evidence in his case, the testimony of others and physical evidence presented at the trial was "more than sufficient" to support his conviction.

Kieren was given life without the possibility of parole in connection with the March 7, 1996, shooting death of David Allen Broyles, 26.

Kieren and his attorney, Lee-Elizabeth McMahon, argued they have since learned that Raymond Michael Woods, who was present during a struggle between Kieren and the victim in Kieren's home, allegedly lied about what happened that night.

McMahon said that Woods told Kieren's former girlfriend that Broyles had gone into the garage to get a gun, that Broyles charged Kieren and that after Kieren shot Broyles, Woods moved the body to destroy Kieren's self-defense claim.

During the trial Woods testified that Kieren dragged Broyles' body to the end of his driveway.

Chief Deputy District Attorney L.J. O'Neale told Gibbons that the "newly discovered evidence" isn't new.

archive