Simone Hirst Model had been celebrating 39th birthday before her death Shod Walker listens to witnesses Feb. 15 during his first murder trial at the Clark County courthouse. Walker is being retried in the 2003 slaying of Simone Hirst. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

Simone Hirst was a beautiful model, yet she wasn't above her addictions.

In April 2003, an intoxicated Hirst traveled to one of Las Vegas' troubled neighborhoods to use crack cocaine.

There she ended up having sex with men for drugs, and was eventually killed in the cold, run-down courtyard of a decrepit apartment complex at 11th Street and Stewart Avenue.

"There is no question Simone Hirst made some bad decisions," Clark County prosecutor Robert Daskas told a jury Wednesday during the retrial of the man accused of killing Hirst, Shod Walker.

"She drank too much," Daskas said. "She ingested drugs, and she found herself alone. But she didn't deserve to die."

Daskas made his remarks during the murder retrial of Walker. Walker's first trial in February ended in a mistrial when a juror attempted to recreate Hirst's bludgeoning death by trying to crack a coconut with a rock in the desert.

Jurors are prevented from conducting investigations or experiments outside of court.

During the kickoff of Walker's second trial Wednesday in the courtroom of District Judge John McGroarty, Daskas said Hirst came to Las Vegas to celebrate her 39th birthday with her boyfriend, William Rothstein.

Rothstein testified Wednes-day that his girlfriend of 12 years was very drunk on the night of her slaying.

She had been denied any more alcohol at the Olympic Garden topless club, and on the way back to their room at the Bellagio, Hirst struck Rothstein and broke his glasses. She also tackled him at the Bellagio before getting in a cab and heading for downtown Las Vegas.

"I was exhausted, she wanted to celebrate," Rothstein said.

Daskas said a witness, David Smith, saw Walker with Hirst at 11th and Stewart shortly before the slaying.

"She looked like someone who didn't belong downtown," Daskas said. "She stuck out like a sore thumb."

Smith, a heroin addict who is missing a leg, told authorities he watched Walker walk with Hirst into the courtyard where she was later found dead.

When Walker came back and talked to Smith, he supposedly said: "Look, you didn't see me with that chick. The cops are going to be all over here pretty soon."

Daskas said Walker's DNA was found inside Hirst, and Walker also changed his clothes shortly after the slaying.

In interviews with police, Daskas said Walker gave four different accounts of the night in question, at first saying he only saw Hirst. In his fourth version of the events, he acknowledged he'd had sex with her and she fell out of a window of a laundry room and hit her head, Daskas said.

Daskas said Walker's account is simply impossible. He said a medical examiner will testify that Hirst's head injuries were more consistent with a high-speed motorcycle accident than a fall from a window three feet off the ground.

Defense attorney Greg Denue, however, said Walker is innocent. He said Smith is simply not a credible witness and can't be found by authorities. Instead, jurors will have to rely on a videotaped deposition of Smith taken before Walker's first trial.

Smith, Denue said, was also asked to describe Hirst, a Caucasian, and responded, "I think she's white."

"If he had looked at Whoopi Goldberg and said 'I think she's black,' you'd think he's crazy," Denue said.

Denue said the medical examiner is wrong, and that Hirst could have died from the fall from the window in the courtyard.

Denue also said it's possible someone else in downtown Las Vegas could have killed her.

"She put herself in a criminal war zone, walking around naked having sex for drugs," Denue said.