Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Jury gets case in housing guard’s death

After three weeks of testimony, a jury was to begin deliberating this morning about whether a 22-year-old alleged gang member killed a security guard outside a Las Vegas Housing Authority complex last year.

Markette Tillman is charged with murder in the January 2004 shooting of 29-year-old Brian Wilcox of Henderson at the Sherman Annex Apartments on the 1700 block of H Street.

During closing arguments on Monday, Tillman's attorney, Bret Whipple, said the prosecution's case amounted to a "mountain of speculation and assumption."

Whipple's assertion came minutes after Chief Deputy District Attorney Vicki Monroe said there was a "mountain of evidence" pointing to Tillman as the man who shot Wilcox twice after an altercation at the complex.

Monroe said if the jury had listened to all the facts of the case they would have already realized the person who shot Wilcox in the back could be only one of two people -- Tillman or 20-year-old Stephen Booth.

Monroe contends that on the night of the killing Wilcox and fellow security guard Jordan Boyd found Tillman, Booth and two other men at the complex even though they had been banned from the property for repeatedly trespassing.

Boyd testified that after Tillman and the others refused to leave, he and Wilcox decided to head back to the main security office on their bicycles to get backup.

Boyd said Wilcox got on his radio to call the main security office for backup, and as Boyd drove up to Wilcox so he could hear the radio call, two shots rang out, hitting Wilcox in the back and leg.

Boyd, however, could not identify Tillman as the shooter nor could he say whether Tillman or the three men with him had a gun. Police never found the gun used to kill Wilcox.

Tillman also is charged with attempted murder allegedly firing at Boyd as well.

Monroe said the jury could only consider Tillman and Booth because both had on identical clothing, a gray hooded sweatshirt and black pants. She said while several eyewitnesses said they saw a person wearing that clothing either fire a gun or flee the scene carrying a gun, other evidence made it clear the perpetrator was Tillman.

Monroe pointed to to the testimony of Tillman's friend, Vernon Swinson, who she said not only corroborated Boyd's story, but also identified Tillman as the shooter.

Swinson testified to being at the apartment complex and seeing Tillman pull a gun and fire it with his right hand as Wilcox and Boyd rode away.

Whipple asked the jury to reject Swinson's testimony saying he was legally blind and had been inconsistent in the several accounts he gave to police.

Monroe also said authorities had scientific evidence pointing to Tillman as the gunman: a gray sweatshirt recovered from Tillman's home containing his identification card later came up positive for gun residue.

The prosecutor also said Boyd was clear in saying he felt threatened by Tillman, but not threatened by Booth. Boyd testified that three weeks prior to Wilcox's death Tillman told Boyd "he was tired of us white guys tying to kick him off the property."

Whipple said the sweatshirt recovered was not Tillman's but instead that of Tillman's girlfriend. He also suggested there was no way Tillman could have hidden a gun in the front pocket of the sweatshirt and encouraged the jurors to try and do so when in deliberations.

Monroe reminded the jury that Boyd said while he saw Booth's hands and the other two men's hands that evening, he never saw Tillman's hands, which she suggested meant Tillman was holding the gun.

Whipple countered Monroe's contentions saying there was "much more evidence against Booth being the killer than there was against Mr. Tillman."

The defense attorney said although Booth had on the same clothing as Tillman the prosecutors "chose not to put him (Booth) on the stand. What are they hiding?"

"They didn't put Booth on the stand because they didn't want you to look eyeball to eyeball with the killer," Whipple told the jurors.

As it turns out Booth is currently awaiting trial on charges attempted murder and robbery before District Judge John McGroarty on April 25 for an alleged incident that took place in roughly the same neighborhood as the Wilcox killing.

Booth is accused shooting Horatio Scott in the back Jan. 20 at an apartment complex on Coran and 8th Street. Scott was he was running away from Booth after confronting Booth about him allegedly stealing a necklace from Scott's brother, according to the police report.

The police report indicates Booth is a documented member of the Playboy Blood Gang. continued to lay out the reasons that she said made Tillman the

Deputy District Attorney William Barrett said Booth wasn't called to testify at the Tillman trial because Booth refused to cooperate with prosecutors. Whipple would not comment as to why he didn't call Booth to stand as part of Tillman's case.

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