Jury recommends death for Butler

Thursday, Jan. 11, 2001 | 8:58 a.m.

The same jury found John Edward Butler, 28, guilty last month of killing Daniel Shersty, 20, and Lin Newborn, 25, on July 4, 1998.

Prosecutors maintain that Butler and an accomplice, Ross Hack, shot and killed Shersty and Newborn in the desert northwest of Las Vegas.

The two victims - Shersty was white and Newborn black - were best friends and skinheads who worked against racism. Prosecutors argued that Butler killed them because of his racist beliefs.

Prosecutors told jurors that Hack's sister, Melissa Hack, who is Butler's girlfriend, lured the men to their deaths with the help of an unidentified woman.

Butler, a woman believed to be Melissa Hack and Joseph Justin were seen at the murder scene by all-terrain vehicle riders the day of the killings. Butler was later found in possession of a weapon that proved to be one of the murder weapons.

Justin testified against Butler, saying that Butler enlisted his aid in picking up evidence left at the scene the morning of the slayings.

Defense attorney Joseph Sciscento had pleaded with the jurors not to base their decision on Butler's racist beliefs.

Butler is the only person charged in the case.