Thursday, Sept. 23, 2004 | 9:37 a.m.
An 81-year-old man accused of killing his 73 year-old girlfriend waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday and is expected to plead guilty to second-degree murder and aggravated stalking.
Jerry Duncan, who will appear before District Judge Michael Cherry on Sept. 30, was originally charged with murder with a deadly weapon for the June 4 killing of Norma Laub in the parking lot outside a beauty salon on Rainbow Boulevard near Sahara Avenue.
Deputy Public Defender Nancy Lemke said Duncan, through his lawyers, has already agreed to a stipulated five to 15-year sentence for the aggravated stalking charge and added to that will be a sentence of either 10 to 25 years or 10 years to life in prison for second-degree murder. The sentences will run consecutively, Lemke said.
As part of the plea agreement with prosecutors, the deadly weapon attachment to the charge was dropped.
Lemke said "the spirit of the negotiations" was to give Duncan a minimum of 15 years of prison time.
"I would have liked to have less (of a minimum sentence) but the state wanted the 15 years," Lemke said.
Laub was a mother of five and grandmother to seven grandchildren. She was an active volunteer at Child Haven and a member of the Children Services Guild.
Police found Laub's body after receiving a 911 call from a woman who said another woman was lying inside a white Saturn, bleeding from the neck, in a shopping center parking lot outside the Self-Expressions salon on Rainbow near Sahara Avenue.
About 15 minutes after police determined the death was a homicide, Duncan called 911 and said he had just stabbed his girlfriend to death, the police report says.
Duncan said he had taken several pain pills and wanted to die, the report says. He also told the 911 dispatcher that he had a loaded shotgun and would shoot any officers who approached his apartment.
He didn't fire the shotgun, however, and was taken to University Medical Center for treatment for the ingestion of pills. "Duncan told the paramedic ... that he wanted to die because he had just killed his girlfriend," the police report says.
Lemke said that in the "month or two" prior to Laub's killing, Duncan's health began failing and he ultimately "just lost it."
"This is a tragic situation all the way around," Lemke said.
Duncan remains in custody at the Clark County Detention Center.
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