Las Vegan pleads guilty in woman’s slaying

Erica D. Johnson

Thursday, March 4, 2004 | 8:55 a.m.

A Las Vegas man on Tuesday pleaded guilty to beating a 26-year-old disabled woman to death last year.

James Davis, 36, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the Dec. 9 death of his wheelchair-bound roommate, Auna Van Otten.

The plea agreement recommends Davis receive a stipulated sentence of life in prison with parole eligible after 20 years has passed when he is sentenced before District Judge Nancy Saitta on April 12.

Authorities say Davis pulled Van Otten, who was paralyzed from the waist down, out of her wheelchair by her hair and fatally beat her at the apartment the couple shared at the Saratoga Palms complex on Mountain Vista Street.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Frank Coumou said he found the case particularly troubling because the victim in the case had no way of defending herself.

"To think of the sheer nastiness of what was done to this girl," he said. "This poor defenseless paralyzed woman endured this sadistic attack."

Davis' attorney, Deputy Public Defender Howard Brooks, could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Coumou said it appeared that Davis was living off the woman's Social Security benefits. The beating occurred when Davis returned home one day and discovered that Van Otten had vomited in his dog's food dish, he said.

"He becomes unglued and started beating on her," Coumou said.

Authorities say Van Otten was kicked and stomped in the abdomen and the back, causing massive internal bleeding.

When the beating was over, "(Davis) tells her to get back in the chair and clean up the mess," Coumou said.

Van Otten died about an hour after the attack. Davis was arrested two days later.

Davis has a prior conviction in New York for burglary while in possession of a firearm, Coumou said.