Court briefs for February 22, 2001

Thursday, Feb. 22, 2001 | 11:12 a.m.

Man guilty in child's murder

A 31-year-old Las Vegas man was convicted late Tuesday of first-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend's 3-year-old child.

Jacquin Keyshawn Webb, who was also convicted of child abuse causing substantial bodily harm, could get a no-parole life sentence when the jury sentences him next week. He also could receive a 20-year-to-life sentence or a 20- to 50-year sentence.

According to police, Nichelle Miller died on June 24, 1999, one day after she was brought into University Medical Center suffering from head injuries, numerous bruises and a broken leg.

Supreme Court rejects killer's bid

CARSON CITY -- Shawn Atkin, whose brother and another man were sentenced to death in the crime for which he is serving a life term, has lost his appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Atkin had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the beating death of 20-year-old Ebony Mason in 1994 in a remote area of Clark County.

He received a life term with the possibility of parole, while his brother, Sterling Atkins, and a companion, Anthony Doyle, both were sentenced to death.

Shawn Atkins claimed in his appeal that his attorney coerced him into pleading guilty and failed to fully investigate the case. The Supreme Court upheld District Judge Michael Douglas, who rejected the claims of Shawn that his lawyer was ineffective in handling the case.

More charges levied at kidnap figure

Additional federal weapons indictments have been levied against the man who 23 years ago was a central figure in Las Vegas' most infamous child kidnapping case.

Jerald Howard Burgess, who in 1981 was acquitted in the 1978 disappearance of 6-year-old Cary Sayegh but later was convicted of unrelated felony charges, was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas on federal firearms charges. He had been indicted in October on similar weapons charges.

Burgess, 63, was charged Wednesday with five counts of a felon in possession of a Ruger .22-caliber handgun with 50 rounds of ammunition; an unregistered silencer; a 7.62 mm semiautomatic assault weapon with folding stock, pistol grip, bayonet and 99 cartridges; a .762 mm semiautomatic weapon with altered serial number; and 400 .22-caliber Remington rifle cartridges, 400 .22-caliber Winchester cartridges, 50 .22 caliber Peters rifle cartridges; 194 .38 CCI cartridges and 43 .380-caliber Smith & Wesson cartridges.

Cary Sayegh, the son of wealthy Las Vegas businessman Sol Sayegh, was abducted from his elementary school playground on Oct. 25, 1978. Cary's body was never found.

Burgess later was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges not related to the boy's disappearance.