Plea for life is caught on tape

Kim Smith

Thursday, March 28, 2002 | 9:24 a.m.

Again and again Fred Huston threatened to pull the trigger. Again and again his wife pleaded with him to put his gun down. She loved him.

"Lay the phone down and we're going to die now," Huston, 81, told his wife, Eldona.

"I'm not ready to die now, I'm only 80," she replied.

Moments later, a scream, the sound of breaking glass. Then, utter silence.

The conversation, the scream and Huston's confession that he shot and killed his wife were played in court Wednesday by Chief Deputy District Attorney L.J. O'Neale.

Up until Eldona Huston was shot in the left eye and died, she was on a recorded phone line with a Metro Police 911 operator for 20 minutes.

During the entire conversation, Huston can be heard yelling that he "can't stand it anymore." He also repeatedly yelled "Tell me what you've done to me!" to which his wife simply responded, "I've loved you."

Wednesday was the first day of Huston's trial on an open murder charge.

O'Neale believes Huston shot his wife to death in their Sandy Valley home on Sept. 24 and should be found guilty of first-degree murder. Sandy Valley is 50 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

Jurors will be asked to decide between first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter in the case.

If convicted of the most serious charge, Huston could receive life with or without the possibility of parole.

Deputy Public Defender Kedric Bassett, in a brief opening statement, asked jurors to keep an open mind.

"The cold facts sometimes aren't as clear as you sometimes might think they are on first blush," Bassett said.

Metro dispatcher Melanie Chin was O'Neale's first witness. She told jurors that three minutes after Eldona Huston was shot, Fred Huston got on the open phone line and told her he'd shot his wife.

Although it wasn't caught on the tape, Chin said Huston commented that he was sad and she asked him why.

"He said for getting involved with women who only wanted him for his money," Chin said.

Under cross-examination from Deputy Public Defender Jim Oronoz, Chin acknowledged that she didn't think Huston was completely rational when speaking with her.

The trial continued this morning before District Judge Michael Douglas.