Death penalty possible in killing of woman

Erica D. Johnson

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003 | 11:02 a.m.

Opening arguments were expected to begin this morning in the trial of a man facing a possible execution if convicted of killing a 20-year-old woman.

Jury selection in the capital murder trial of Joseph Antonetti, 27, began Monday.

Antonetti is charged in the shooting death of Mary Amina, 20, and the attempted murder of her 30-year-old boyfriend, Danny Stewart. He faces murder, attempted murder and firearms charges.

Police say Antonetti and a man named Michael Bartoli went to an apartment in the 3800 block of Stober Avenue on Dec. 1 in search of some of Bartoli's belongings.

The two men allegedly confronted the couple, and after a heated conversation Antonetti allegedly shot both the man and the woman. Amina died, but Stewart survived and implicated Antonetti and Bartoli in the crime.

In an unrelated incident, police believe Antonetti shot his 33-year-old female roommate about a month prior. He allegedly shot her with a .25-caliber handgun and left her for dead, but the woman survived and told police that Antonetti was the shooter.

Antonetti will not face attempted murder charges stemming from that incident during this trial. He will be tried on those charges at a later date, one of his attorneys, Chris Oram, said this morning.

Over objections from defense attorneys, however, prosecutors will be allowed to present evidence of that shooting as a prior bad act, which means jurors in this trial will hear about the alleged crime, Oram said.

Also, grand jury transcripts obtained by the Sun on Monday detail Antonetti's role in an alleged escape attempt from the Clark County Detention Center in September that authorities say involved five other inmates.

Antonetti was being held at the jail while he awaited trial on the murder charges.

Antonetti and the other men were indicted on charges of attempted escape, possession by a prisoner of tools to escape, and conspiracy to commit murder. The men are also charged with plotting to kill Nathan Godown, who was also indicted in the escape attempt, after they were freed.

According to the grand jury transcripts, Antonetti, Godown, John Knecht and Charles Renee Smith arranged the help of an outside accomplice, Michelle Marie Garoian, to smuggle rope, wrenches, hacksaws and hacksaw blades into a cell on the ninth floor of the jail.

During the grand jury proceedings, Metro officer Bryan Peterson testified that Garoian admitted to police her role in the plot.

Prosecutors say the hacksaw blades were used to cut through the metal bars in order to escape through the window.