Women’s families seek peace

Erica D. Johnson

Thursday, April 1, 2004 | 11:36 a.m.

Family members of the two women Alfonso "Slinkey" Blake gunned down in a desert area in Las Vegas say they hope his death sentence will bring some closure to a year filled with heartache.

Jurors on Wednesday determined the 33-year-old aspiring singer should be executed for the March 5, 2003, slayings of Sophear Choy, 19, and Priscilla Van Dine, 22.

Blake will be sentenced for the attempted murder of Kim Choy, who was shot twice in the head but survived, on May 24.

Kim Choy said when she heard Blake's sentence, "It was like the doors of heaven opened up. My sister can finally rest in peace."

Kim Choy said she will never forget seeing her sister shot before her eyes.

"She died in my arms. I'll never get over it," she said, crying.

The same jurors who gave Blake the death sentence last week had convicted him of two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in the slayings.

Blake admitted he shot the women in a desert area near Lone Grove Road and Decatur Boulevard but claimed he was temporarily insane when he pulled the trigger. In court this week, he apologized to the victims' family members.

Outside the courthouse on Wednesday, the mood was somber as the victims' family members held hands and said they would try to move forward with their lives.

"The verdict doesn't ease the pain of missing my sister, but I can sleep better," Melissa Van Dine-Dahl, Van Dine's older sister, said.

Dahl said she looked across the courtroom directly at Blake, who was weeping, when the verdict was read aloud. Blake's family members also cried when the verdict was read.

"I just wanted to look at him and say, 'See, you get what you deserve,' " Dahl said.

All death penalty cases in Nevada must go through a series of lengthy automatic appeals and it could be many years before Blake is actually executed, Clark County prosecutors Robert Daskas and Christopher Lalli said.

"We don't view a death verdict as a victory," Daskas said. "It's a tragedy for everyone involved. There's no reason for us to celebrate."

Blake's attorney, Pete Christiansen, declined to speak with reporters after the verdict. Jurors also declined comment.

Donald Van Dine, Van Dine's father, said he hopes the appeals process is quick. If Blake is remorseful, he won't drag out the process, Van Dine said.

"If that is truthfully the way he feels, he would stop the appeals process, step up to the plate and say, 'Put me to death,' " he said.

Kim Choy said she would like to be present when Blake is executed.

"I want to watch him die the same way he watched us die," she said.

Jurors returned the death verdict after deliberating for about three hours on Tuesday evening and about two hours Wednesday morning.

In their verdict, they listed Blake's prior criminal record and the fact that there was more than one victim as aggravating factors. They listed Blake's remorse and the fact that the killings appeared unplanned as mitigating factors.

The shootings came after the victims reneged on an agreement to move in with Blake, an aspiring R&B performer who was already living off the earnings of three strippers who rented rooms in his home.

When the women tried to retrieve some of their property, a fight ensued and Sophear Choy was stabbed eight times.

Kim Choy testified that Blake led the women into the desert and ordered them onto their hands and knees before he shot each woman twice in the head.

Prosecutors said Blake was angry because the women's decision meant a loss of income for him. They said he killed them because they had witnessed the knife fight.

"The defendant had countless opportunities to stop what he had put in motion," Daskas said. "Each time he made the wrong decision. For that, he'll pay the ultimate price."