Jail mate testifies in Briller murder trial

Kim Smith

Friday, June 7, 2002 | 9:13 a.m.

When Donald Stenger and Stephen Briller ran into each other in the Clark County Detention Center two years after they last saw one another, they immediately began catching up.

Stenger got quite a surprise when he asked Briller, 41, if he was still with the same girlfriend.

"He said 'No.' That that was the reason he was in jail because he had strangled her," Stenger told jurors Thursday during the fourth day of testimony in Briller's murder trial.

Prosecutors say Briller killed his fiancee, Teri Roberts, 33, after learning she had told his uncle he was blowing a $150,000 inheritance on drugs, gambling and topless entertainment.

Roberts was last seen March 1, 2000, and her badly decomposed body was found in her bed three weeks later. Although an autopsy failed to reveal a cause of death, Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens told jurors Friday that several pieces of circumstantial evidence led police to believe she had been murdered.

In the days after Roberts was last seen, Briller had her three dogs euthanized, pawned a large number of her belongings and showed up at his uncle's home in Los Angeles demanding the rest of his inheritance.

Briller's defense attorney, Deputy Public Defender Drew Christensen, told jurors that blood tests taken before and after Roberts died could indicate she died as a result of epilepsy.

Stenger testified he purchased methamphetamine from Briller after meeting Briller and Roberts at a Henderson topless club in January 2000.

Two years later, Stenger said, he was in jail on stolen credit card charges when he ran into Briller again.

Shortly after telling him he had strangled Roberts, Stenger said, he ended up in the same courtroom as Briller. On their way back to the jail, Stenger said Briller said he would get away with the murder because they wouldn't be able to find his fingerprints on Roberts' throat.

"He said by the time (the police) found her she'd rotted away," Stenger said.

Stenger said he felt compelled to tell the authorities about Brillers' alleged confession. It was only later that he decided to ask prosecutors to allow him to serve his jail time in the credit card case in Florida, Stenger said.

The ex-felon said a scheduling mistake landed him in the same courtroom with Briller again in May.

During a disturbance outside the courtroom, Briller whispered in his ear that "he'd been dreaming about breaking my wife's neck," Stenger said.

"What did you do?" Owens asked.

"Nothing. I told him to keep dreaming," Stenger said.

Under cross-examination, Stenger told Christensen that some people in jail say things out of false bravado to help protect themselves from bullies.