Murder trial ends with guilty plea

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2000 | 4:34 a.m.

The capital murder trial of a man accused of botching a contract murder ended with the defendant pleading guilty to a charge that makes him eligible for probation.

Defense attorneys Tony Sgro and Christopher Oram said prosecutors offered to let Steven Acosta plead guilty to conspiracy to commit murder.

The offer came Tuesday, shortly before a key prosecution witness, Kurt Johnson, was scheduled to resume testifying.

Johnson, 45, said Monday that he drove Acosta to Best Auto on the city's north side on the February 1998 morning that store manager George Veit was shot to death in a case of mistaken identify.

Acosta faces a possible sentence of two to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 1 by District Judge Sally Loehrer. The judge could choose to sentence him to probation.

At 8 a.m. Feb. 3, 1998, an armed man wearing a mask, gloves and a long coat burst into Best Auto and fired two shots into Veit, a Mormon Church leader and the married father of four.

Police searched in vain for a motive, then learned that Keith Shanley had spoken of his intention to have someone kill another Best Auto employee, Steve Conley, who was living with Shanley's former girlfriend.

Veit and Conley were similar in age and build, and Conley had been present in the office just moments before the shooter arrived.

About one year after the shooting, California authorities arrested Johnson on a warrant that Las Vegas authorities obtained after finding a methamphetamine lab in his home.

Johnson told police that he, Shanley and Acosta discussed killing Conley on several occasions. Johnson said Acosta, now 34, was to be the triggerman because Shanley would be an obvious suspect and would need an alibi.

Even if jurors believed Johnson fired the gun, they could have found Acosta guilty of murder if they were convinced he participated in the conspiracy that culminated in the shooting.

Johnson testified in August at the trial in which jurors found Shanley guilty of first-degree murder. Shanley, 30, faces a minimum of 40 years in prison when he is sentenced Oct. 17 by Loehrer. Johnson testified as part of a plea agreement that granted him probation.