Plea agreement in slaying stands

Kim Smith

Monday, Nov. 6, 2000 | 10:19 a.m.

Murder defendant Lamar Alexander had already backed out of one plea agreement when he went before District Judge John McGroarty Friday and asked if he could back out of a second.

McGroarty refused, and on Dec. 14 the 20-year-old will be sentenced to life in prison with parole possible after 10 years.

Although he did not admit his guilt, Alexander agreed in March that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him in the June 1996 death of Terry Dixon, the 45-year-old father of his friend Sean Dixon.

According to police, Alexander, Jeremy Kelly and Sean Dixon went to Terry Dixon's Nellis Boulevard apartment to steal his truck and ended up shooting him to death.

Neighbors reported hearing gunshots inside the Dixon apartment and seeing Sean Dixon leaving in the truck.

Sean Dixon, then 16, was arrested after wrecking the truck during a high-speed chase with the police.

Alexander agreed to the second-degree murder deal after Sean Dixon and Kelly got prison terms of 40 years to life on first-degree murder charges.

However, a couple of months ago Alexander began trying to back out of the plea agreement, saying that his attorney at the time, Tony Sgro, hadn't fully explained the terms of the deal and he felt pressured to take it.

On Friday Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent and Sgro took the stand to explain the chain of events that led to a jailhouse meeting among the three and the eventual signing of the plea agreement.

The attorneys said Alexander initially agreed to plead guilty to first-degree murder that included a 20-year-to-life sentence or a 20- to 50-year prison sentence. When he backed out of that agreement, he was then offered a 15-year to life sentence but turned it down.

Laurent said Alexander simply didn't want to take a deal that involved a life term, but there was no way he was going to offer something less than life.

The attorneys said that when they met with Alexander, they explained that even though the evidence shows Kelly was probably the gunman, if he went to trial and was convicted, he also could face 40 years to life because he was with Kelly and Dixon, and he knew they were going to steal the truck.

Once Alexander understood that, Laurent said, Alexander agreed to a 10-year-to- life sentence.

Alexander was never told he would absolutely be convicted, Laurent said, just that a jury would probably convict him, unless something "funky" happened.

Sgro said he recommended that Alexander take the deal, because Alexander made an incriminating statement to the police.

"I thought the 20-to-life was a good deal, so when we got offered a 10-to-life, I thought it was an incredible deal," Sgro said.