Lone Mountain murder case ends in guilty verdict

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2005 | 9:05 a.m.

A 19-year-old man was convicted of first-degree murder on Monday for beating to death and then robbing his friend before leaving the body at the base of Lone Mountain last summer.

After roughly five hours of deliberation spanning over two days a Clark County jury found Christopher Nay guilty of luring 19-year-old Elijah Ansah to Lone Mountain, on the northwestern edge of the Las Vegas Valley, with a lie about a double-date that had been set up.

Ansah was beaten to death with a baseball bat in July 2003.

The jury rejected Nay's argument that he acted in self-defense after Ansah pulled a gun on him.

Nay's penalty hearing is scheduled for this afternoon. The jury will decide whether to sentence Nay to life in prison without the possibility of parole, 40 years to life in prison, or a set term between 40 and 100 years in prison.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Lynn Robinson withheld commenting on the verdict until after today's sentencing.

Deputy Public Defender Scott Coffee, however, couldn't hold back his disappointment over the verdict, even offering up what he thought would be "the key issue" at Nay's eventual appeal.

"We're devastated by the verdict," Coffee said. "We think perhaps the jury instruction on felony murder we requested would have resulted in a different verdict for Chris (Nay)."

Coffee said he asked for the jury to be given an instruction saying "if you form intent to commit robbery after the killing the felony murder rule doesn't apply."

Under the felony-murder rule, if a murder is committed during the commission of a felony, whether intentional or not, the individual committing the felony is held accountable for the murder.

At trial Coffee conceded that after Nay bludgeoned Ansah with a baseball bat he took Ansah's gun, money, pants, marijuana and shoes. The defense attorney, however, said that while it's possible to rob someone after they are dead, Nay had no intent to rob Ansah prior to the killing.

District Judge Jackie Glass rejected offering such an instruction to the jury. There is no requirement under Nevada law for the issuance of such a jury instruction.

Coffee said there is no precedent in Nevada courts, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals or by the U.S. Supreme Court on the issue of offering such an instruction.

Prosecutors successfully argued and used testimony and evidence to prove Nay never acted in self-defense, but instead set up, carried out and tried to cover up the gruesome murder. They said Nay's intent was to beat and rob Ansah on the night of the killing.

During closing arguments Deputy District Attorney Susan Krisko said none of Nay's actions after Ansah's murder were consistent with a self-defense claim.

Krisko said Nay took a lighter and tried to set Ansah's body on fire and stomped on him leaving a footprint on Ansah's body. Nay also destroyed some evidence and attempted to hide other evidence, Krisko said.

Krisko said Nay later tried to throw the bat away and gave the gun to a friend to hold. And later, he sang to his friends a "ghoulish rap song," Krisko said, with the lyrics "I hit somebody on the back of the head; now he's lying dead."

In a statement to police Nay said he "was trying to cover my tracks so I didn't get charged with murder."