Defense wins bail for suspect in LV man’s killing

Kim Smith

Thursday, Nov. 7, 2002 | 9:05 a.m.

Bail for a Las Vegas woman accused of hiring her brother to kill her husband was set at $25,000 Wednesday over the objections of prosecutors.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, citing a Nevada statute regarding bail, said that the presumption of guilt in the Susanne Carno case was "not so great" as to warrant a high bail.

Should Carno post bail she will be placed on house arrest.

Prosecutors allege Susanne Carno hired her brother, John Brian Ray, to kill her husband, Richard, for $50,000.

Prosecutors say the couple were in dire financial straits, owing more than $30,000 in credit cards, and had recently taken out $500,000 life insurance policies. They claim Susanne Carno found her husband boring and may have been having an affair with her former husband.

Richard Carno, who was married to Susanne for four years, was found dead Jan. 31.

An autopsy revealed Carno, 36, died as a result of asphyxia due to strangulation or suffocation.

Ray was arrested shortly after the body was found when police learned that just six weeks before the slaying he reportedly told friends his sister had agreed to pay him $50,000 to kill Richard Carno.

Susanne Carno was indicted Oct. 24 following a special grand jury investigation.

In asking for the high bail, Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens noted the seriousness of the charges, Susanne Carno's lack of employment and the fact she may one day face the death penalty.

Deputy Special Public Defender Alzora Jackson argued that Carno should not be penalized for being a homemaker who chose to forgo work to care for their children.

She noted Carno has lived in Las Vegas her entire life and pointed out the large group of Carno supporters in the courtroom.

"This is not your typical murder case your honor," Jackson said. "What we've got here is a lot of circumstantial evidence, a lot of supposition and a lot of inadmissible hearsay evidence."

Among the hearsay evidence is testimony from a college classmate of Carno who told authorities that she told their entire classroom that Richard Carno had fallen, hit his head, slipped into a coma and died -- months before he was slain.

Two weeks before the slaying Carno reportedly told a relative that she dreamed Richard Carno had been kidnapped from their home and killed.