Guilty verdict returned in hotel killing

Monday, Sept. 29, 2003 | 9:42 a.m.

A Clark County jury on Friday returned a guilty verdict in the case of a Pennsylvania man charged with killing a tourist in a hotel room.

Jurors declared Kenneth Grant guilty of one count each of first-degree murder and robbery with use of a deadly weapon in the April 4, 2001 death of 44-year-old David Sygnarski, also of Pennsylvania.

Grant, 35, faces life in prison with or without parole.

During the trial before District Judge John McGroarty, prosecutors Chris Owens and David Schwartz alleged that Grant and his girlfriend, Paulette Perry, killed Sygnarski in a room at the now defunct Maxim.

They told jurors that Perry had lured Sygnarski to the room with promises that the two would use crack cocaine together. They said Grant was waiting in the room when Sygnarski arrived and the then couple killed Sygnarski and hid his body under the bed. Sygnarski was stabbed multiple times.

Deputy Special Public Defender Alzora Jackson had argued that Grant did not kill Sygnarski and that he did not play a role in planning Sygnarski's death. She said Grant wasn't in the hotel room when the killing took place.

In an earlier trial before McGroarty, Perry, 35, was also found guilty of first-degree murder in Sygnarski's death. She is serving two life sentences.

A penalty phase in Grant's case was scheduled to begin this afternoon.