Thursday, April 15, 2004 | 8:20 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Frank LaPena, serving a life term for plotting to kill the wife of a wealthy Las Vegas casino executive, told a panel of the state Parole Board on Wednesday he "will be a good citizen" if he is released from prison.
LaPena has served about 24 years in prison for hiring a hit man to murder Hilda Krause, the wife of a Caesars Palace executive.
LaPena, who originally was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, was before the board Wednesday for the second time this year seeking his freedom. His original term was reduced in December to allow parole, but his release was denied in January
The board had said he would have to wait until 2006 before he could reapply, but then scheduled the Wednesday meeting to reconsider the case. It is expected to release its new decision within two weeks.
LaPena told the board he has a good job lined up at an auto sales firm and as a legal assistant to an attorney. "I will obey the law. I have no problems doing that," said LaPena, now 65 years old.
Board member John Morrow, who was chairman of the panel, said LaPena's "performance in prison has been exemplary."
There was a question in the first board hearing about whether LaPena had been eligible for parole.
David Smith, management analyst for the board, said the law prohibits the parole board from releasing an inmate whose sentence of death or life without the possibility of parole has been commuted if the inmate has not served at least 20 consecutive years in prison.
LaPena has served 24 years, but in two terms. He served seven years before his first conviction was overturned by the Nevada Supreme Court. He then received a new trial, was convicted again and has since served 17 years.
Smith said the parole board in January discussed the issue and asked for an opinion from the attorney general's office. He said the legal opinion dated March 25 holds that the 20 consecutive years requirement applies only to offenses committed after Nov. 2, 1982. That date is when the voters approved a constitutional amendment.
LaPena's offense occurred in 1974.
Morrow declined to say whether LaPena was denied the first time because he had not served 20 consecutive years.
LaPena was convicted of hiring Gerald Weakland to kill Krause in January 1974. Her throat was slit and her husband, Marvin, was beaten in their home.
LaPena's girlfriend, Rosalie Maxwell, worked at Caesars Palace and was dating Marvin, who was a slots manager. The plot allegedly was for Maxwell to marry Krause and later inherit his fortune for herself and LaPena.
Weakland pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and testified for the state. He has been paroled six times but always returned for a violation. His latest release was in January 2003 and he is still on parole.
LaPena has repeatedly denied his involvement in the crime.
LaPena, during the Wednesday hearing, said the Nevada Supreme Court has called Weakland a "perjurer" in a prior case involving the two men.
LaPena was convicted in the other case of second-degree kidnapping and battery with a deadly weapon in connection with the abduction of William Obenauer in November 1973. The Nevada Supreme Court overturned that conviction.
In that case Weakland and another man took the victim into the desert outside Las Vegas and beat him. Weakland fired a bullet into Obenauer's leg. Weakland initially told police that LaPena wanted Obernauer roughed up. But then he changed his story at the trial.
The court overturned the LaPena conviction because there was no other evidence to back up the testimony of the accomplices.
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