Jurors return to decide killer’s fate

Kim Smith

Thursday, Sept. 19, 2002 | 9:44 a.m.

A Clark County jury that must decide if a Las Vegas man convicted of killing his girlfriend should one day have a chance at parole resumed deliberations this morning.

The jury in the Kassard Omar Brown case deliberated for two hours Wednesday without coming to a decision.

Brown was convicted of first-degree murder last week in the September 2001 shooting death of Rebekah Hanson, the 26-year-old mother of his 6-year-old daughter.

Brown's attorneys had tried to convince jurors that he accidentally shot Hanson, thinking she was a burglar. Prosecutors, however, told jurors that Brown killed Hanson because she was finally leaving their longtime abusive relationship.

Jurors must decide if Brown should receive life with or without the possibility of parole or a 50 to 100-year sentence.

On Wednesday, jurors learned that Brown, 26, has been arrested multiple times. His criminal history began in the early 1990s, when he was a juvenile. It includes arrests for sexual assault, domestic violence, robbery and property crimes.

Jurors also heard the emotional testimony of Hanson's mother and sister who are fighting with Brown's family to get full custody of Hanson's daughter.

Georgette Byrd, a Clark County deputy clerk, said she is considering a career change because every sad story she hears in the courtroom reminds her of her sister.

"The only time I'll get to see my sister is in pictures or in dreams," Byrd said.

Both Byrd and George Ann Mayne, Hanson's mother, listed all of the milestones Hanson's daughter, Serenity, will never get to share with her mother.

"We're the ones who have been sentenced to life," Mayne said.

Mayne said she didn't believe the news when she got the call that her daughter was dead. She went to the apartment the couple shared and saw them carry her daughter out in a body bag.

"You want to throw yourself over the black bag and you want to say how much you love her and tell her how much you are going to miss her. You want to open it up and see her and you're thinking it's not real, but you know it is. That's the worst part," Mayne said.

Mary Brown, the defendant's mother, spent more time describing her relationship with Serenity than asking for mercy for her son. She simply said that as a 13-year-old boy he helped her raise his nieces and nephews.

"I'll miss him, but life has to go on," Brown said.