Man convicted in killing of roommate

Erica D. Johnson

Wednesday, March 19, 2003 | 10:50 a.m.

A jury on Tuesday convicted a Las Vegas man in the shooting death of his elderly roommate.

After a weeklong trial, jurors found Donald Sjolseth guilty of first-degree murder of a victim over 65 in the August 2000 death of 72-year-old Harley Peters.

A sentencing date before District Judge Donald Mosley will be set in April. Sjolseth faces 40 years to life in prison or life in prison without parole.

The incident occurred in a mobile home the two shared at the Tropicana Village Mobile Park in the 5900 block of West Tropicana Avenue.

Sjolseth, 53, originally said Peters' death was a suicide, but prosecutors claimed Sjolseth shot his roommate and business partner once in the face and once behind the ear when a pyramid scheme business venture the two men had started failed.

Deputy District Attorney Ross Miller said Peters could not have shot himself from the distance at which the bullet entered. He called the shooting "payback."

"Sjolseth has a history of preying on the weak and helpless," Miller said. "When the business went sour, he took it out on Harley Peters."

Sjolseth's attorney, Joseph Sciscento, said he presented evidence that his client was depressed, and the evidence was not conclusive that Peters was shot twice.

Sjolseth's friend, Thomas Smith, had called police after Sjolseth told him his roommate had killed himself. Sjolseth later claimed Peters begged him to put him out of his misery after he'd tried to commit suicide and failed, Miller said.

The murder apparently wasn't the first domestic dispute involving the roommates. Sjolseth was arrested in 1998 on charges of assaulting Peters. The charges were reduced to disturbing the peace and Sjolseth paid a fine.