High court upholds murder conviction

Friday, Aug. 9, 2002 | 10:47 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court today upheld the first-degree murder conviction of Mack Mason, who fatally shot another man in a dispute over a woman in Clark County.

The court rejected Mason's claims that there was conflicting testimony presented at the trial and that the jury did not have sufficient evidence to convict him of the killing of Dudley Thomas in 1999. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Mason and Felicia Jackson were involved in a romance but she apparently ended the relationship. Jackson then became involved with Thomas in April 1999.

Witnesses at the trial said Mason came to Thomas' apartment and shot him in the head. Mason then grabbed Jackson and forced her to accompany him, witnesses said.

The two ended up in a downtown Las Vegas motel. They did some shopping and ate at a restaurant before police found the two in the motel.

Mason tried to escape to the next room but then surrendered. A .38-caliber revolver was discovered in the air duct of the motel room. It was determined to be the murder weapon.

Mason, at trial, said it was Jackson who shot Thomas.

The court said there was some evidence that Jackson accompanied Mason voluntarily after the killing. But it said there was "sufficient incriminating evidence" from Jackson and another witness that Mason was the shooter.

The state sought the death penalty but the jury returned a penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The court, in its ruling, said that prosecutors are required to provide notice of all evidence they intend to introduce at a capital penalty hearing.