High court denies appeals of two killers

Thursday, May 13, 2004 | 9:34 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the appeals of two Las Vegas convicted murderers, and the state's high court also overturned a lower court decision that favored Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in a dispute with a doctor.

The court upheld the first-degree murder conviction of Albert S. Briller, who was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for strangling his girlfriend, Teri Roberts.

Roberts' body was found on a bed in an apartment she shared with Briller. It had been there for three to four weeks. Briller remained in the apartment for part of that time but then left Las Vegas and pawned many of Roberts' personal belongings.

Briller claimed District Judge Donald Mosley was wrong to allow Briller's romantic involvement with a neighbor into evidence.

But the Supreme Court said the disputed evidence "was relevant inasmuch as it demonstrated a possible motive Briller had for killing his girlfriend Roberts."

The court also rejected other claims by Briller and said there was "overwhelming evidence" against Briller.

In a second decision, the court affirmed the first-degree murder conviction of Elder Zacarias-Lopez, sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years for the July 2001 fatal shooting of Moris Morataya at a Las Vegas home.

Witnesses at the trial said they heard gunshots in the home and saw Lopez drive quickly away after the shooting.

Zacarias-Lopez claimed District Judge Kathy Hardcastle improperly excluded evidence that may have shown another man was involved in the killing.

The attorney for Zacarias-Lopez wanted to question a police detective at trial about statements children made after the shooting and use the statements to show the children may have seen another man get into a truck and drive away.

Hardcastle ruled the defense could not ask what the witnesses told the detective because any answer would be inadmissible hearsay evidence. The state justices upheld Hardcastle and rejected other claims of error.

In a third decision Tuesday, the court overturned a ruling by Hardcastle. She had awarded Sunrise Hospital $231,396 in attorney fees and $17,889 in costs, after ruling that Dr. Thomas C. Yee sued the hospital without reasonable grounds when his hospital privileges were suspended indefinitely.

But the Supreme Court said part of Yee's suit was not frivolous and voided the award.

Hardcastle had granted a pre-trial summary judgment in favor of the hospital and ordered Yee to pay the attorney fees and costs.

Yee, an anesthesiologist, had left one emergency patient to care for another who needed immediate assistance. The hospital said its bylaws were violated when Yee left the first emergency patient to care for the second.

The court said the hospital "put Dr. Yee in a situation where he had to choose between his moral and ethical obligations to treat both emergency patients, even if it meant leaving one unattended for a few minutes in violations of the hospital's bylaws."