Jury weighs fate of suspect in slayings

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.

Piece by piece, Deputy Special Public Defender Bret Whipple put together a case Tuesday to show his client didn't kill four people eight years ago, but a missing drug dealer did.

During his closing arguments Tuesday in District Court, Whipple used a high-tech slide machine and screen to try to create reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors being asked to convict Richard Powell in the May 1, 1992, deaths of four Las Vegas residents.

At the end of Whipple's statement, all of the pieces came together to form a puzzle with drug dealer Brian "Clay" Hardy in the center.

Prosecutors Mel Harmon and L.J. O'Neale maintain Powell and a co-defendent, Vernell "Little Ray" Evans, shot Samantha Scotti, 24, to death because she set Powell up on a drug deal with police. He served seven years in federal prison as a result.

Three other people, they contend -- Lisa Boyer, 26, and 19-year-olds Jermaine Woods and Stephen Walker -- were killed simply because they were there.

The jury began deliberating this morning. If convicted, Powell could join Evans on Nevada's death row.

But on Tuesday Whipple brought together bits and pieces of information gleaned over the course of the trial that he contends show Hardy killed Scotti.

There is no physical evidence tying Powell to the crime scene, Whipple said.

And Scotti was killed a full 18 months after she informed on Powell, but only a few months after she informed on Hardy, who was a friend of her boyfriend's, Anthony Collins, Whipple said.

In the two weeks before she died, Scotti repeatedly told people she was worried about her "homies" coming after her, but she never expressed fear about Powell, Whipple said.

In fact, a friend of Scotti's testified that just hours before her death, Hardy was at the Scotti apartment threatening her life and killing her puppy because she was a "snitch bitch," Whipple said.

In addition, another woman testified that within two hours of the slayings, she saw Hardy and Evans wearing matching dark jumpsuits and a 4-year-old witness told police the "bad men" were both wearing brown, Whipple said.

Moreover, an autopsy revealed Walker not only had a gunshot wound in his head, but also a broken jaw, Whipple said. Powell felt no animosity toward Walker, but Hardy would have, because Walker was sleeping with Scotti -- his friend's girlfriend.

And lastly, Scotti had been telling people she was pregnant with Collins' baby when she wasn't -- probably because she wanted to protect herself, Whipple said.

The four prison inmates who testified Powell bragged of the killings were either released from prison early or received letters from the government praising their cooperation, Whipple said.

In other words, they had "nothing to lose and everything to gain," Whipple said.

As far as prosecutors' key witness, the 4-year-old, she couldn't even identify Evans at his trial, although she lived with him at one time and had never wavered in her belief that "Little Ray" committed the murders, Whipple said.

Yet she identified Powell at his federal drug trial as the man with "scary eyes" who killed Scotti with Evans, Whipple said. Perhaps it was because she was shown his picture while she was sitting on the stand and recognized him on her way out, he said.

O'Neale began his closing arguments by saying "let's get out of fantasy land and get back on Main Street."

O'Neale told the jurors they are not allowed to base their verdict on speculation and supposition. The evidence shows Powell killed the four victims, he said.

The witness who told police she heard Hardy threatening Scotti's life on the day of her murder also testified about the presence of another man, a man who was on house arrest and couldn't possibly been at the apartment that day, O'Neale said.

O'Neale agreed that Hardy is a fugitive on drug charges, but only because he happened to be at the home of a man Scotti had informed on. She never informed on Hardy himself.

The 4-year-old testified the "bad men" were wearing brown sweaters, not dark jumpsuits, O'Neale said. She also said that the bad man with scary eyes was a big man, much bigger than Evans.

Hardy is only 5 foot, 8 inches to Evans' 5 feet, 7 inches, O'Neale said.

And as far as the four prisoners who testified against Powell, they had a lot to lose, O'Neale said. They've already seen what happens to people who inform on Powell: They die.

"They have everything to lose," O'Neale said. "They can be hurt, they can be killed."

O'Neale said Powell told the jurors that he was in the drug business.

There should be no question who tortured and shot Scotti eight times and killed her friends, O'Neale said.

"Richard Powell gave you the answer. It's all about management," O'Neale said. "It was all about managing his drug business, his drug organization. It wasn't just about the personal pleasures of Richard Powell. It was a business decision."

Powell wanted revenge for losing his position at the top of a drug organization, but he also wanted to send a message about what happens when to people who help the police.

Holding up a picture of Powell with all but his eyes blocked out, O'Neale reminded the jurors that people say the eyes are the windows to the soul.

"These eyes are the windows to a very scary, murderous soul," O'Neale said.

"Foo-fraw aside, speculation aside, guess work aside," the evidence shows that Powell killed four people eight years ago, O'Neale said.