Man acquitted in friend’s death

Kim Smith

Thursday, June 14, 2001 | 10:44 a.m.

A Las Vegas man charged with murder after his friend was killed in a botched robbery was acquitted Wednesday.

Jurors in the Avery Church case told attorneys after the verdict the state had not met its burden of proof.

Church was charged with murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary in connection with a September 1999 incident that left Paulo Cornejo dead.

Chief Deputy District Attorney L.J. O'Neale told jurors that Cornejo, 24, and Church robbed the manager of the Rochelle Manor Apartments near Flamingo Road and Maryland Parkway and fled.

The manager, William Gifford, who had been bound with duct tape, had freed himself and chased after the men with a .38-caliber weapon, intending to confront them in the parking lot.

When he got to within five to seven yards of the men, O'Neale said, Church yelled at Cornejo that Gifford was free and he had a gun.

When Cornejo turned and appeared to reach inside his jacket for a weapon, Gifford fired twice, killing Cornejo, O'Neale said. Church took off and the police were called.

Gifford later identified Church from a photo lineup and he was arrested, O'Neale said.

Defense attorney Peter Christiansen pointed out that Gifford could not have been turning and reaching for a gun because an autopsy showed he had been shot in the back of the head and in the back.

Gifford was so scared of being charged with murder himself that he lied to police, Christiansen said.

The jurors told Christiansen and O'Neale that they didn't believe Gifford when he took the stand and they also thought he should have been charged with Cornejo's murder.

The handful of witnesses who testified that Church was one of the two robbers weren't particularly credible, either, the jurors said.

O'Neale declined to comment on the verdict, but Christiansen said he was pleased.

Had Church been convicted he would have faced multiple life sentences and the best plea agreement made by the state was four to 30 years, Christiansen said.

"Today is a good day; the system worked," Christiansen said.