Defendant in wrong-man hit gets 5 years instead of probation

Kim Smith

Friday, Nov. 10, 2000 | 10:05 a.m.

Downplaying a defendant's part in the arrest and conviction of two of his friends, District Judge Sally Loehrer sentenced Kurt Johnson to five years in prison Thursday.

Johnson, 45, will have to serve at least two years before he is eligible for parole in the February 1998 death of George Veit.

According to authorities, Veit, 42, was shot to death by Steve Acosta after Acosta mistook the victim for the man he had been hired by Keith Shanley to kill.

However, no arrests were made until one year later -- around the time Johnson, who was hoping to get out of trouble in a drug case, came forward.

Johnson told authorities that Shanley, 30, was upset that his girlfriend left him for another man and hired him and Acosta, 34, to kill the new boyfriend. However, Veit was shot instead of the boyfriend where both worked at a local transmission shop.

Johnson testified against Shanley during his trial in August, and Shanley was convicted of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to two, 20-year to life terms, plus an additional term of seven to 32 years a few weeks ago.

Johnson also testified during Acosta's trial, but midway through prosecutors gave Acosta a deal, saying Johnson's testimony had become inconsistent. Acosta was sentenced to four to 10 years for conspiracy to commit murder.

On Thursday Johnson's attorney, Lamond Mills, urged Loehrer to stick with the deal prosecutors had struck with him and give Johnson probation.

"I think the Nevada Department of Prisons would be a very dangerous place for Kurt Johnson," given his role in the trials, Mills said.

However, Loehrer gave Johnson two to five years in prison, saying that the police had a good idea of who was behind the murder before Johnson came forward.

The only reason Acosta and Shanley weren't arrested earlier is that the police were "ineffective," Loehrer said. They ended up being arrested because a new detective took over the case, not because Johnson came forward, she said.