North Las Vegan acquitted of firing shots that killed woman

Erica D. Johnson

Thursday, March 11, 2004 | 11:18 a.m.

Jurors on Wednesday acquitted a North Las Vegas man charged with killing a woman by firing shots through her closed apartment door.

Jurors returned a not-guilty verdict on each of the three felony counts Aaron Lamont Eagles faced, including murder, attempted murder and discharging a firearm at or into an occupied building.

Eagles was charged with killing 26-year-old Jessica Korschinowski and injuring her boyfriend, Charles McDonald, 33, in the May 18 shooting.

"It was a fair trial," District Judge Joseph Bonaventure said after the verdict was read aloud. "The jury for some reason believes there wasn't enough evidence to convict. That's the way the system works."

Korschinowski's family members, who were in the courtroom, appeared upset at the verdict. They left the courtroom without talking to reporters.

Eagles' attorney, Chris Oram, had maintained that there were several inconsistencies in the prosecutors' case.

"They didn't prove it," he told jurors during closing arguments.

Oram had argued throughout the two-day trial that there was little evidence linking his client to the crime. He said the shooter was actually Gino James, an associate of Eagles.

"We're very pleased," Oram said afterward. "We feel it was the correct verdict."

James initially was charged with aiding an abetting a criminal act, Oram said, but authorities dismissed the charges because there was not enough evidence.

Authorities said Eagles, 21, fired the shots through the front door of the couple's apartment at 1505 W. Cartier Ave. The shooting apparently was sparked by an argument between Eagles and McDonald, prosecutors said.

Deputy District Attorney Thomas Carroll said the case was difficult to prove because few witnesses were willing to testify.

"Unfortunately killings like this will go unpunished if people in the community are unwilling to come forward and truthfully testify as to what they witnessed," he said.

The case rested primarily on the testimony of two witnesses: McDonald and an 11-year-old boy who told police that he saw Eagles pull the trigger.

McDonald said Eagles was the shooter, but he admitted he lied to police when he said he saw Eagles running toward the apartment with a gun.

He said he had a confrontation with Eagles and heard Eagles yelling outside his front door. He said he never saw Eagles with a gun.

The 11-year-old boy initially told police that he saw Eagles fire the shots. On the witness stand, however, he recanted his story and said he could not remember what happened.

Carroll said he believes the boy changed his story because his mother is now dating Eagles' father.

"He now has motive not to tell the truth," Carroll said.

District Attorney David Roger said acquittals do happen, though defendants are convicted in about 90 percent of the trials that pass through Clark County courtrooms.

"There are times when a jury disagrees with us (prosecutors), and that's the greatness of our criminal justice system," he said.