Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Weber guilty, all counts

Same jury will decide whether defendant should die for double-slaying

Chris Gautier, right, is hugged by family friend Val Froman Monday after a jury found Timmy "T.J." Weber guilty of murdering his mother, Kim, and his brother, Anthony. At left is Kim Gautier's sister, Brenda Hicks. Below, Weber listens to the jury's verdict. Photos by Jeff Scheid.

Nearly a year after Kim Gautier and her teenage son were murdered, their family members found comfort in court Monday as the word "guilty" was read on all 17 counts faced by Gautier's now-convicted killer, Timmy "T.J." Weber.

"They can finally rest in peace," Chris Gautier, 18, said of his slain mother and brother, just minutes after Weber was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and 15 other charges.

"The Lord answered our prayers," said Kim Gautier's sister, Brenda Hicks.

Though Gautier's family found some comfort in the verdicts, Weber's family was outraged, saying an innocent man was convicted.

"He didn't do it," said Weber's uncle, John Bruns of Chicago.

"There's a biker gang out of Henderson that did it," Bruns said. "She (Kim Gautier) was into drugs, she didn't pay her bill, and they came after her."

Jurors who listened to testimony in the case for nearly two weeks in District Judge Joseph Bonaventure's courtroom clearly felt differently. A grey-haired jury foreman rattled off the word "guilty" to the list of charges, which ranged from two counts of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon to sex assault to possession of child pornography.

The 28-year-old defendant appeared resigned to the fact his conviction was imminent. He bore a look of only mild frustration when the verdicts were issued.

After the verdicts were read, Weber looked back at his family in the crowded courtroom and smiled, an expression the Gautier family found offensive.

"Obviously you would like to see some remorse, but it wasn't there," Hicks said. "But for someone to have the capability to commit the crimes that he did, you have to have that sort of a deadness inside."

The jury of eight women and four men will begin hearing testimony today in the trial's penalty phase. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Weber, convicted in the April 4 rampage at the Gautier family home, 700 N. First St.

Weber, a seven-time convicted felon, was dating Kim Gautier at the time of the murders. But authorities alleged he was actually dating the mother of three in order to get access to Gautier's daughter.

The girl, now 15, testified that Weber began raping her when she was 9. Other witnesses testified that Weber seemed obsessed with the girl, and on the night before the murders, he was furious that a boy had called the Gautier home to talk to the teen.

The next morning, authorities say Weber raped the girl and fatally bludgeoned her mother. Kim Gautier's nude body was found face down in a plastic bin, a garbage bag over her head.

Anthony Gautier was tortured to death, prosecutors said. The boy had a T-shirt stuffed down his throat and duct tape was placed over most of his face. The boy was then forced to lie face down on a bed, his hands and legs restrained, and Weber placed large weights on the boy's body to keep him from getting up.

The medical examiner who did the autopsy described Anthony Gautier's death as extremely slow.

Prosecutors said an overwhelming amount of physical evidence and witness testimony linked Weber to the crimes. His fingerprints were found on the duct tape used to restrain Anthony Gautier's ankles and a store clerk said Weber purchased the tape on the morning of the killings. Weber's fingerprints also were found on a roll of garbage bags identical to the garbage bags placed over both victims' heads.

Gautier's daughter testified that Weber raped her the day of the murders. DNA evidence subsequently proved that Weber had sex with the girl.

Weber's defense attorneys, Clark County deputy public defenders Joseph Abood and Wil Ewing, argued that their client simply didn't do it. Abood, who declined comment on the verdicts Monday, told the jury during closing arguments that forensic evidence in the case couldn't be trusted.

Weber's aunt, Linda Bailey, agreed.

"I don't know if they (the jurors) were in the same courtroom as I was," Bailey said. "He was not guilty of everything."

In addition, Weber's defense team documented how Kim Gautier was under the influence of methamphetamine and that she was selling red iodine. The material is commonly used in the production of the drug.

Hicks said despite the negative portrayal of her sister in court, Kim Gautier was a kind and caring woman who was preyed upon by Weber.

"Obviously she wasn't the perfect citizen, but she was a good mother and she loved her kids," Hicks said.

Of Anthony Gautier, Hicks said, "My heart aches for what he could have been. He was a wonderful boy. I would like people to remember that he was just like the boy next door."

Chris Gautier said he has hope that Weber will receive the death penalty, but he said it will be OK with him if Weber spends the rest of his life in prison.

"Even if he gets life, he's still going to be in there for the rest of his life," he said.

Gautier's sister said that as a Christian, she has struggled with what Weber's punishment should be.

"He's going to get his, whether it is here or in the hereafter," she said. "But I can sleep better knowing he's never going to be walking out here with me."