Jury deliberates in Lone Mountain murder case

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Monday, Jan. 31, 2005 | 8:50 a.m.

A 19-year-old man accused of beating to death and then robbing his friend before leaving the body at the base of Lone Mountain last summer may learn his fate today.

A Clark County jury was scheduled to resume deliberating Christopher Nay's case this morning. They started deliberating Friday afternoon, but after failing to reach a verdict were sent home by District Judge Jackie Glass about 5 p.m.

After a week of testimony and arguments, the jury is trying to determine whether Nay lured 19-year-old Elijah Ansah to Lone Mountain with a lie about a double-date that had been set up only to beat him with a baseball bat in July 2003.

Nay's lawyer said Nay acted in self-defense after Ansah pulled a gun on him.

But Deputy District Attorney Susan Krisko told the jury there was no evidence Nay acted in self-defense. She said all of the evidence, Nay's actions and his statement to police indicate he is not the "mild and meek" person jurors saw sitting in court, but a "a dangerous person who killed another human being."

She said the testimony from Nay's friends proved Nay asked to borrow the bat he ultimately used to smash Ansah's head in.

Krisko said no one could confirm Nay's story that he carried the bat around with him for days because he was afraid a gangster named Kermit was going to hurt Nay.

The prosecutor said Nay also arranged for another friend to drive Nay and Ansah to the mountain, and once there Nay told the driver to wait there for him for about 25 minutes.

"He (Nay) had no intention of leaving Lone Mountain with Elijah," Krisko said.

Krisko urged the jury to reject the claim that Nay acted on adrenaline after a gun was pulled on him. "He (Nay) was so 'scared for his life' that he knew to take Elijah's shoes and pants because his prints were on them," Krisko said.

In part of Nay's police statement played to the jury during Krisko's closing argument, Nay told detectives: "I was trying to cover my tracks so I didn't get charged with murder."

Nay later said: "I took the pants because the gun was in them I wanted to make sure he was dead, and I didn't want him to come and shoot me."

Krisko then directed the jury to the gruesome acts Nay committed to Ansah after he struck him with the bat, which she said weren't consistent to someone acting in self-defense.

She said Nay took a lighter and tried to set Ansah's body on fire, stomped on Ansah leaving a footprint on Ansah's body and then took Ansah's gun, pants, marijuana and shoes. Later he destroyed some of that evidence and tried to hide other evidence, she said.

Krisko said Nay later tried to throw the bat away and gave the gun to a friend to hold.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Lynn Robinson said Nay would later sing a "ghoulish rap song" to friends in which he said "I hit somebody on the back of the head; now he's lying dead."

She dismissed Nay's claim that he cooperated with authorities and wasn't guilty of murder because he didn't leave the state saying Nay told friends "the police believe it was a gang-related case."

"When the police arrived at his apartment he slammed the doors in their face." Krisko said.

Deputy Public Defender Scott Coffee said the proof that Nay was acting in self-defense rested in his police statement saying Nay had no lame excuses to tell detectives.

Coffee said this was a case of Nay having a gun being pulled on him in the desert by a guy Nay had let live with him for free.

"You've (the jury) been through a lot and heard a lot of evidence and we've been consistent from the beginning," Coffee said. "This is a case of a couple of friends, Elijah (Ansah) pulled a gun and Chris (Nay) responded. The rest is smoke and mirrors."

Coffee said Nay's actions didn't show signs of deliberation, but a rash impulse.

Coffee conceded Nay did some unusual things for someone who had acted in self-defense, but said not all people, especially 19-year-olds, act the way others might.