Court briefs for June 7, 2001

Thursday, June 7, 2001 | 10:15 a.m.

Man to be tried in two killings

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Jennifer Togliatti Wednesday ruled there is enough evidence to try a 21-year-old man in the shooting death of another man.

As a result, Manuel Martel now faces charges in two separate murder cases.

Martel was bound over for trial in the Jan. 24 death of Antonio Reyes, 22, on Wednesday and in the March 21 death of Oscar Oliveira on May 24.

Deputy District Attorney Robert Daskas said police believe Martel shot Reyes after the two got into a confrontation at an apartment complex in the 1600 block of East Rochelle Avenue near Maryland Parkway.

The Oliveira case is believed to be gang-related, Daskas said. Police believe Oliveira and a group of his friends went to pick up some girls at a motel in the 5200 block of South Industrial Road and found the girls with Martel and some of his friends.

Martel is alleged to have asked the other group where they were from, using a derogatory phrase, and then opened fire, Daskas said.

Oliveira was hit by gunfire and later died at Sunrise Hospital.

Daskas said that in each case Martel claims the other man pulled a gun on him first.

Inmate sentenced in assault case

Some people are just beyond hope, and Kathleen Carter is one of those people, Deputy District Attorney L.J. O'Neale said in District Court Wednesday during Carter's sentencing.

Carter, who was already in prison serving time for the 1998 killing of her boyfriend, Robert Wiley Jr., was recently convicted of battery for assaulting a guard. She told District Judge Donald Mosely that she was protecting her unborn baby, and herself.

"We didn't see eye to eye," Carter said about the female guard.

Mosely didn't appear to buy it and tacked on an additional one to two and a half years that will run consecutive to her second-degree murder sentence.

"You're not meant to see eye to eye, Ms. Carter," Mosely said. "You're there to serve your time."

The defense claimed that Carter has a long history of mental illness, but O'Neale said her sudden illnesses are conveniently timed, and her drug usage exacerbates the problem.

Jennings gets two life terms

Having nothing to say, Charles Edward Jennings stood quietly Wednesday with his head hung low before District Judge Donald Mosely, who sentenced him for killing a post office co-worker in 1996.

Jennings shot and killed James Brown after losing his job with the U.S. Postal Service, according to authorities. He will serve two life sentences without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder.

This would be the second time Jennings stood before a judge for the same crime. Jennings was permitted a second trial when prosecutors erred by adding a kidnapping charge to his other charges in the first trial.

Witnesses testified at both trials that while under the influence of drugs, Jennings drove to the post office at 1001 E. Sunset Road to kill Brown and perhaps two other post office executives.

Jennings told police after his arrest that he and Brown struggled for the gun, which discharged. Brown suffered two gunshot wounds in the head. After the shooting, Jennings turned himself in and admitted the shooting to police.