U.S. Supreme Court rejects Nevada appeal

Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2000 | 10:24 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court has denied an appeal filed by death row inmate Michael Mulder, convicted for the murder of a 77-year-old Las Vegas man. The court dismissed the plea without comment on Monday.

Prosecutors said that in July 1996 Mulder's girlfriend, Kimberly Van Heusen, met retired carpenter and contractor John Ahart and the two gambled together at the Showboat hotel-casino. Ahart reportedly agreed to split about $80 in winnings with her the next day, according to court records.

Some time after Mulder and Van Heusen showed up to claim the money, Mulder, then 36, tied up Ahart with duct tape and beat him to death in his mobile home at Three Crowns Mobile Home Park on North Lamb Boulevard.

Mulder then stole Ahart's car, jewelry and gun, court records show. The two fled. Police, aided by a private detective hired by Ahart's family, caught up with the couple two months later in Phoenix.

Mulder was convicted of murder, robbery of a victim over 65 years old and burglary in possession of a firearm.

Mulder's attorneys appealed on several grounds, in one case arguing that the penalty hearing should have been delayed at least 60 days after the trial. Defense lawyers also challenged the use in the trial of Van Heusen's grand jury testimony.

The Nevada Supreme Court denied those claims in January.

The state court rejected the claims of Mulder's defense attorneys, who also had argued that Mulder did not commit Ahart's murder willfully, deliberately and with premeditation.