Court briefs for April 29, 2004

Thursday, April 29, 2004 | 9:27 a.m.

Bingaman to be arraigned May 10

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Karen Bennett-Haron ruled there was enough evidence to prosecute a man on murder charges in his wife's slaying after a preliminary hearing Wednesday.

Craig Bingaman, 27, is accused of strangling his wife, 23-year-old Tiffany Bingaman, with speaker wires after the couple got in an argument.

Three detectives, including Detective Robert Whiteley, a friend of Bingaman's whom Bingaman called right after his wife's death, testified during the preliminary hearing Wednesday. Chief Deputy District Attorney Alexandra Chrysanthis said Bingaman told Whiteley everything that happened.

Bingaman will be arraigned in District Judge Nancy Saitta's courtroom May 10 on one count of murder with use of a deadly weapon.

Evidence approved in molestation case

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Deborah Lippis denied on Wednesday a defense attorney's motion to throw out evidence incriminating a former church camp counselor of child molestation.

The case against Harold Shaw, 59, will go forward with the evidence at a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 3.

Shaw's attorney, Osvaldo Fumo, had argued that the evidence, including a videotape that allegedly shows Shaw sexually assaulting a 12- to 13-year-old girl, was improperly seized.

Fumo said the federal warrant served on Shaw did not meet the higher requirements of probably cause mandated by state law.

Shaw, a former Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints summer camp counselor and a gymnastics coach, is charged with three counts of sexual assault of a minor under 14, one count of lewdness with a minor under 14 and two counts of use of a minor in producing pornography.

Man enters plea in shooting death

A man charged with the shooting death of an acquaintance over a property dispute pleaded not guilty to one count of murder with use of a deadly weapon Wednesday before District Court Judge Nancy Saitta.

Michael Adkisson, 38, is scheduled for trial on June 28 for the February shooting death of 32-year-old Steven Borgens.

Police and paramedics who were called to the scene found Borgens with a gunshot wound in the chest lying in the driveway of his home in the 2200 block of Saxton Hill Avenue near Martin Luther King and Lake Mead boulevards.

Supreme Court denies petition

The Nevada Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the petition of Jacquin Webb, sentenced to life in prison for the 1999 beating death of his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter in Las Vegas.

The court ruled that Webb was six days past the deadline for filing his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The court rejected Webb's argument that his trial attorney had delayed for nine months delivering him the files of the case.

Webb was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in the death of Nichelle Miller.

Jury to decide on death penalty

A jury is set to decide next month whether a man convicted of the execution-style murder of four men in Las Vegas in 1998 will be put to death, after the Nevada Supreme Court overturned a three-judge panel's death-penalty sentence.

Donte Johnson's penalty phase hearing is scheduled for May 18, and his attorneys and prosecutors were before Clark County District Judge Lee Gates Wednesday to argue what evidence would be provided to the new jury.

Gates ruled Wednesday that Johnson's juvenile records, as well as evidence that Johnson was involved in a shooting at a motel a few days before the murder. would not be admitted.

Johnson was found guilty of the killing of Matthew Mowen, 19, Jeffrey Biddle, 19, Tracey Gorringe, 20, and Peter Talamantez, 20.

The original sentence of death that was handed down by the three-judge panel was overturned after the United States Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty should be applied only by a jury.