Court briefs for September 19, 2000

Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2000 | 10:52 a.m.

Screaming Milko taken from court

The sentencing of perennial political candidate Hilary Michael Milko was postponed Monday after he had to be dragged out of the courtroom with his mouth taped shut.

District Judge Jack Lehman was scheduled to give Milko 12 to 30 months in prison on a home-invasion charge, but Milko began screaming at the judge as soon as his case was called.

Although bailiffs moved quickly to tape him, Milko continued yelling.

Milko, who has run for president, governor and mayor countless times, pleaded guilty in August to burglarizing his former girlfriend's home in 1998.

Lehman accepted his guilty plea after a psychologist testified he believes Milko is faking mental illness.

Milko is already serving 16 months to six years in prison for a similar incident the same year. The second sentence will be served at the same time.

Milko's new sentencing date is Oct. 16.

Not-guilty verdict returned in killing

A 31-year-old Las Vegas man who was accused of stabbing a man to death on Christmas Day was found not guilty Friday after 90 minutes of deliberation.

Gregg Lacedra had been accused of stabbing Stephon Brown to death in the parking lot of Palace Station. Prosecutors had alleged the stabbing was over a drug deal, and Lacedra then claimed he was a federal agent.

Lacedra countered that on the day of the incident, Brown had threatened him with a gun. Lacedra said he stabbed Brown in order to escape a sure death. Lacedra said the security officers and police officers who testified that he told them he was a DEA agent lied.

Several Metro Police officers called by the defense verified Lacedra's depiction of Brown as a dangerous man.

Two plead guilty in car fire

Two people pleaded guilty Monday to charges of conspiring to commit insurance fraud by burning a car in Clark County to collect on the policy.

Chief District Judge Lee Gates set sentencing for Nov. 7 for Renee Ann Nolan-Galvan, 34. John Steven Langston, 33, was sentenced to serve one year in the county jail on the gross misdemeanor charge.

Nolan-Galvan collected $6,875 from GRE Insurance Co. in 1997 after she said her 1990 Toyota Celica caught fire.

Deputy Attorney General Laurel Duffy said an investigation revealed that the two had set the car on fire because it needed expensive repairs and Nolan-Galvan still owed money to the lienholder.