Calls from jail could hurt man’s claim of self-defense

Erica D. Johnson

Thursday, Dec. 19, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

A Las Vegas man on trial for murder said he shot his friend in self-defense. But phone calls he made from jail just hours after the killing could prove damaging to his claim.

Rex Adams, 22, faces three felony charges including murder with a deadly weapon in the July 4 shooting death of Hershell "Bobby" Pacheco.

Adams testified Wednesday that he shot Pacheco, 23, his friend of 10 years, in self-defense. The shooting occurred as the two took turns firing Adams' gun on the soccer field at Western High School, Adams said in District Judge Joseph Bonaventure's courtroom.

Adams' attorney said Pacheco became angry because Adams was teasing him about his shooting skills.

"He was teasing him in way he never teased him before because he was intoxicated," defense attorney Brett Whipple said. "Bobby lost his temper and pointed his own gun at him. They fought over it. Bobby pulled it away. He grabbed back. Bobby came at him and he shot."

Adams testified that he didn't know how many times he shot Pacheco.

"He just shot and continued to shoot as he fell to the ground," Whipple said.

But in taped conversations Adams had with his mother, father and sister in the hours and days following the shooting, he never said he shot Pacheco in self-defense, Metro Homicide Detective Sheila Huggins testified.

Jurors on Wednesday heard six excerpts of the conversations.

A recording informs all inmates at the Clark County Detention Center that any calls they make or receive can be monitored or recorded, Huggins said.

Huggins listened to the phone conversations because she was perplexed about "how in such a short amount of time something could go so wrong," she said.

In one taped conversation with his mother a few hours after Adams was arrested, Adams said he and Pacheco were playing with the gun at the soccer field when the gun jammed and Pacheco was accidentally shot.

"The gun jammed up and I was (expletive) around with it and it shot him," he said. "I told (the police) that but they didn't believe me. One bullet jammed up and it was still in there and the other one came out and that's how he got hit."

In a conversation taped three hours after the first call, Adams said he emptied his gun because he was afraid he'd be caught with a loaded gun on his way home.

"When he fell I looked at him and I was like, 'oh my God' and he didn't move," he said. "I shot every last bullet into the ground. Boom, boom, boom, boom boom. And then I (expletive) ran off."

A few hours later, Adams' mother asked him if he was sure he shot Pacheco only once.

"Yes," he said. "I hope I didn't shoot him another time because that's really going to be bad."

Several other comments Adams made on the tapes were also inconsistent with his statements to police, Huggins said.

According to the coroner's report, the victim was shot three times, twice in the back of the head and once in the torso, Huggins said.

It appeared as if Pacheco was lying flat on the ground and face down when he was shot, Huggins said.

Shell casings were found on the soccer field next to the victim's body and as far as 100 feet away, and in the surrounding neighborhood, Huggins said.

Whipple said his client lied to detectives because he was afraid.

"He wanted to go home and he took the easy way out," Whipple said. "He kept saying it was an accident. He didn't expect what happened to happen. He didn't expect his friend to pull a weapon on him and threaten his life. He knew he was already in trouble for shooting the gun. Then his best friend turned up dead."

Priscilla Lucero, 17, a friend of the two men, testified Monday that Adams and Pacheco went to the soccer field to "do a gun show" after attending a party in the neighborhood.

Adams was firing his gun in the air in the residential neighborhood during the party, she said.