Murderer sentenced to death

Kim Smith

Thursday, Jan. 11, 2001 | 11:19 a.m.

John Edward Butler could become Nevada's 89th death-row inmate.

After deliberating a day and a half, a Clark County jury Wednesday recommended that Butler, 30, should die for shooting Lin Newborn, 25, and Daniel Shersty, 20, to death in July 1998.

Butler showed no expression when the verdicts were read. There were no relatives of the victims in the courtroom.

Butler will be formally sentenced Jan. 23 by District Judge Michael Douglas.

Although the jurors found several mitigating factors in the case, they decided those did not outweigh the fact that Butler was found guilty of multiple murder counts.

The jury decided on the death sentence despite the fact that Butler grew up without a positive male role model in a dysfunctional and poor family, was sexually assaulted as a teen and had a lifelong drug problem.

Prosecutors alleged that Butler, the leader of a racist skinhead group, shot Newborn and Shersty to death in the desert northwest of Las Vegas after his girlfriend and an unknown woman lured them to the site under the guise of a date.

Butler reportedly hated the men because they were active in an anti-racist skinhead movement and Newborn, who was black, had flirted with numerous white women.

Butler, along with Melissa Hack and Joseph Justin, were seen at the murder scene within hours of the slaying, and Justin testified during the trial they were picking up incriminating evidence that had been left behind.

Defense attorneys argued that Hack's brother, Ross, and his roommate, Daniel Hartung, committed the murders and that Butler was only aiding Ross Hack by picking up the evidence.

Deputy Special Public Defenders Bret Whipple and Joseph Sciscento also put several of Butler's friends and relatives on the stand to establish his alibi.

In a meeting held after the verdicts were announced Wednesday, jurors said those witnesses helped them convict Butler.

The prosecutors in the case, Christopher Laurent, Bill Kephart and Robert Daskas, said other people may face charges in connection with the case. Because more than one weapon was used, they believe there were probably at least two other gunmen.

In addition, the prosecutors said they believe they have identified the second woman who helped lure the men to their deaths.

Whipple said an appeal will be filed not only because it is required by law, but because he believes errors were made during the trial. He declined to comment further.