Nevada Supreme Court rules in cases involving killers

Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009 | 1:55 a.m.

CARSON CITY – The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that Las Vegas killer Gregory A. Budd should have the opportunity to prove his lawyer was ineffective during the trial that led to his conviction on three counts of murder.

The court said the failure of District Judge David Barker to appoint an attorney in this post-conviction appeal deprived Budd “of a meaningful opportunity to litigate his claims…”

Budd was sentenced in 2006 to six consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole for the triple shooting of Jason Moore, 17, D’jon Jones, 13, and Derrick Jones, 23. The victims were not related and police said the shooting was the result of a drug deal gone bad.

Budd, now 26 and confined to the maximum security prison in Ely, maintains there were 12 instances of the ineffectiveness of his attorney at trial.

The court said Barker should have appointed a lawyer to represent Budd in his present appeal. It said there was a lengthy trial with potentially complex issues and several of Budd’s claims may require additional facts.

In another ruling, the court ordered an evidentiary hearing for Gregory Stiegler, convicted in 2005 of second-degree murder in the killing of his former roommate, Robert Wilson, in Las Vegas.

Stiegler claims his attorney was ineffective at trial because he failed to call a toxicologist who could have testified the victim died of a drug overdose or from heart problems and hepatitis C.

The court said the trial testimony of the medical examiner on the cause of death was equivocal and the testimony of a toxicologist may prove the victim died of natural causes or there was self defense.

The body of Wilson, 52, was found buried under concrete under a stairwell in his home. And there were 14 lacerations in the head.

The medical examiner testified at trial she did not believe Wilson died of blunt force trauma. She said the victim probably died of asphyxiation but she could not determine whether the plastic sheeting was placed over the victim’s head before or after death.

Stiegler, 43, is confined at the Lovelock Correctional Center and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms with the possibility of parole after 10 years.

The court did uphold the first-degree murder conviction of John T. Moxley in the shaking death of his 6-month-old son, Jonathon, in 1997.

Moxley initially was convicted but the Supreme Court overturned it and ordered another trial. He was then convicted again.

Moxley said his second conviction should be reversed because the testimony of Ricky Perez at the first trial was permitted at the second trial without a chance to cross-examine Perez.

Perez was a cellmate of Moxley in Clark County and he testified about statements made by Moxley after his arrest.

Perez was in the state prison in Ely at the time of the second trial, which was postponed 11 times. Each time, the state had transported Perez to testify over a period of several years. The second trial began but Perez was not present. The prison said it had misplaced its faxed request to transport Perez and it would take several days to arrange for the inmate to be in Las Vegas.

The court, in upholding the conviction, said “based on the unique facts of this case, we find no error.”

Moxley, now 46, is at the state prison in Ely. He was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility in 20 years.