Court briefs for March 5, 2001

Monday, March 5, 2001 | 11:42 a.m.

Jurors unable to decide killer's fate

Jurors who convicted a Las Vegas man in a double homicide last week agreed Friday that he should not get the death penalty. However, because they couldn't decide whether he should have a chance at parole, a mistrial was declared in his punishment phase.

Defense attorney Pete Christiansen said a three-judge panel will now be called upon to decide John Seka's fate. Such panels traditionally vote for the death penalty, but have the option of giving defendants life with parole possible after 20 years or life without parole.

Seka was convicted of first-degree and second-degree murder in the 1998 deaths of Eric Hamilton, 34, and Peter Paul Limanni, 33, respectively. He was also convicted of two counts of robbery.

The panel will determine the sentence in the death of Hamilton, but District Judge Donald Mosley will set the sentence for Limanni's death.

Murderer's penalty phase to be reheard

A Las Vegas man sentenced to death in the Independence Day 1998 deaths of two anti-racist skinheads will get a new penalty phase.

District Judge Michael Douglas ruled Friday that a new jury should decide John Edward Butler's fate because new information has come to light that could cast doubts on a state witness' testimony.

Butler was convicted in December of killing Lin Newborn, 25, and Daniel Shersty, 20, with the aid of accomplices who have not yet been charged.

Defense attorneys have since learned that one of the state's witnesses identified a trial audience member as one of two women suspected of leading the victims out into the desert the night they died.

The prosecutors didn't tell the defense attorneys about it. If they had, the defense attorneys argued they could have shown the witness was mistaken, therefore casting the rest of her testimony into doubt.