High court asked to throw out conviction in NLV murder case

Friday, Nov. 17, 2000 | 10:40 a.m.

The leader of a North Las Vegas street gang who was convicted of first-degree murder in the execution slaying of a fellow gang member has asked the Nevada Supreme Court to throw out the 1999 verdict, claiming prosecutor errors were made at trial.

Brendan James Nasby, 20 at the time of his conviction, made the plea through his attorney, Frank Santacroce, before a three-justice panel meeting in Las Vegas on Thursday. Nasby, serving 44 years to life in prison, was not present.

"There were numerous errors in trial," Santacroce told justices Nancy Becker, Bill Maupin and Chief Justice Bob Rose.

Santacroce said District Judge Mark Gibbons had not yet ruled on the admissibility of a letter his client gave to a fellow Clark County Detention Center detainee, asking that he find an alibi witness who would lie and say Nasby did not do the 1998 shooting, but the prosecution mentioned it during opening statements.

Gibbons later ruled that the proposed evidence was inadmissible because it was prejudicial, so the jury heard only the statement about the letter but never got to see evidence of it.

"The damage was done, the jury was contaminated," Santacroce said during his 15-minute presentation, noting that three of Nasby's accomplices testified against him and only received minor sentences ranging from probation to two years in prison.

Maupin, acting as presiding justice, said that according to the case record, the evidence from the accomplices was corroborated by people who weren't co-conspirators.

"You have to take the totality, the accumulation (of the errors)," Santacroce said.

Nasby was convicted Oct. 19, 1999, of first-degree murder and conspiracy in the slaying of Michael Lamont Beasley, 18, who Nasby believed was trying to take over his leadership position in the gang, according to trial testimony.

The victim was lured to Lone Mountain by being told that the gang was going there for target practice. As Beasley looked for targets, Nasby walked up behind him and fired three shots into the back of his head, according to trial testimony.

Deputy District Attorney Frank Coumou, who prosecuted Nasby, told the justices that even if he overstated his case in his opening statement there is "no misconduct unless the prosecution acted in bad faith."

He said: "the evidence was overwhelming that Brendan Nasby killed Michael Beasley," including much of what Nasby told authorities.

For example, Coumou said, Nasby retrieved from his North Las Vegas home a 9 mm handgun that later was determined to be the murder weapon and gave it to police before they even asked him any questions about a weapon.

Also, Cuomou said, despite the lesser sentences handed down to the co-conspiritors his office made a deal for a shorter sentence with just one of them.

Beasley's body was found near Lone Mountain by a jogger on July 17, 1998. A few weeks later, Metro Police arrested Nasby at his home.

The justices will rule on the Nasby matter at a later date.