Woman draws 50-year sentence

Kim Smith

Thursday, Jan. 11, 2001 | 10:21 a.m.

A Las Vegas woman tried one last time Wednesday to persuade the family of her dead boyfriend that she never meant to kill him.

Moments before she was to sentence Kathleen Carter for the murder of Robert Wiley Jr., District Judge Sally Loehrer gave Carter an opportunity to say anything that might lessen her sentence.

Carter turned to Wiley's mother, Flora Smith, and 12-year-old son, Cyrus, and apologized.

"Mrs. Smith, I really am sorry. I never, ever tried to take your son's life. I'm sorry he's gone because I really, really did love him," Carter said. "Cyrus, I wish I could take it all away and make it so your father could come back to life. I'm sorry you have to live without him and I'm sorry I have to live without him as well."

She tried to perform CPR on Wiley, but he just "faded away," Carter said.

According to prosecutors, Carter, 30, stabbed Wiley because Wiley was upset about her drug usage and wanted to kick her out of his apartment.

Wiley was found on the bathroom floor of his apartment in October 1998, having bled to death from a stab wound to his leg.

During her trial in November, Carter claimed she stabbed Wiley in self-defense. But jurors convicted her of second-degree murder after learning she had given police at least six other explanations for Wiley's wound.

In one story, Carter told police Wiley was stabbed during "renaissance sex," and in another she said he was stabbed while they were playing "Dungeons and Dragons."

Loehrer sentenced Carter to 50 years in prison with parole possible after 20 years. She also ordered her to pay more than $13,000 in restitution.

Had Carter not been "whacked out on three days of drugs and booze" she could have gotten Wiley medical attention and he might have survived, Loehrer said.

Loehrer urged Carter, who once stabbed another boyfriend, to work on her drug and anger problems while in prison.