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Supreme Court upholds decision on murder charge

Friday, Nov. 23, 2001 | 9:47 a.m.

The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that a man involved in an apartment robbery in Las Vegas could not be charged with murder because his crime partner was shot to death by the resident of the apartment.

The court Wednesday upheld the decision of District Judge Donald Mosley, who granted a pretrial motion to drop the murder charge against Charles D. Von Lewis.

Von Lewis and his companion, Patrick Booker, 18, entered an apartment in Las Vegas in October 1999 to rob it. The resident, who was not identified in court documents, shot and killed Booker.

The Clark County district attorney's office filed several charges, including a murder count, against Von Lewis on the theory that Booker was killed during Von Lewis' commission of felony robbery.

The court said it is not possible under Nevada law for Von Lewis to be guilty of either the first- or second-degree murder of Booker based on a felony-murder theory.

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