Convicted killer James Scholl sits beside his attorney, Alzora Jackson, while waiting for the verdict during the penalty phase of his murder trial Friday in District Court. The jury gave Scholl life in prison without parole in the 2004 murder of cabdriver Pairoj Chitprasart. Photo by Jeff Scheid.
Two F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighters circle to land at Nellis Air Force Base after participating in a Red Flag exercise. The once state-of-the-art aircraft will soon be declared obsolete. Photo by Gary Thompson.
A 34-year-old man accused of killing a Las Vegas cabby by dousing him with gasoline and setting him on fire was convicted of first-degree murder Wednesday.
But a jury on Friday rejected a death sentence for convicted killer James Scholl, determining he should spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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Juror Michael Harrod said after the verdict that he was the only juror who voted for a death sentence in the August 2004 slaying of cabby Pairoj Chitprasart.
"It was an evil, heinous crime," Harrod said. "If someone setting a person on fire isn't good enough to get the death penalty, then I don't know what is."
Jurors who voted for a life sentence noted on a jury verdict form that they considered the fact that Scholl was under the influence of drugs when he doused Chitprasart with gasoline, then set him on fire in his cab on Las Vegas Boulevard during a robbery.
Chitprasart's common-law wife, Kanitsri Utamong, said she was OK with the jury sparing Scholl because his three children would have lost their father if he was executed.
"For me, I didn't need the death penalty," Utamong said. "I lost my husband, and my son lost his dad. I understand how his kids would feel."
Authorities said Scholl jumped in Chitprasart's cab and doused him with gasoline while trying to rob him. When Chitprasart wouldn't hand over any money, authorities said, Scholl set him on fire with a match.
MONDAY
Boyd purchases 40 acres in NLV
Boyd Gaming Corp. announced it would spend $35 million to purchase a 40-acre parcel in North Las Vegas.
The company said it didn't have a timetable for building on the casino-approved site, on the southwest corner of Lamb Boulevard and Centennial Parkway. The site is near the intersection of Interstate 15 and the Las Vegas Beltway.
Boyd Gaming spokesman Rob Stillwell said the company had not determined whether the site would house a Sam's Town-style casino or a property with the theme of the company's subsidiary, Coast Casinos.
"We have two very solid brands to build upon, and I think it's safe to say the casino will either be one or the other," Stillwell said.
TUESDAY
Murder suspects' statements conflict
Bodybuilders Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan provided conflicting statements about the death of their personal assistant, Melissa James, in nearly 500 pages of voluntary statements they gave to Las Vegas homicide detectives. Titus and Ryan are charged with murder in the December slaying of James, and copies of the couple's statements were obtained by the Review-Journal.
In their first statements to police, Titus and Ryan said they didn't know how James' charred body ended up in the trunk of Ryan's car. But in two subsequent statements, they changed their story, saying that James died of a drug overdose at their house and that they burned her body to avoid negative publicity from the accidental death.
"I panicked. That gets in the newspaper, we're ruined. Dead girl, car, OD'd, Craig Titus, Kelly Ryan. We're (expletive) ruined," Titus said.
WEDNESDAY
Stealth jets headed
for 'boneyard'
The black jets that revolutionized air warfare with their radar-evading technology and ability to drop precision-guided bombs at night are to be discarded in 2008, 20 years after the Air Force acknowledged the stealth fighters' existence.
Capt. Michelle Lai, an Air Force spokeswoman at the Pentagon, said most, if not all, of the nation's F-117A Nighthawks are expected to go to "the boneyard": Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson, Ariz., where rows of scrapped planes cover acres of desert.
Much of the testing and development of the nation's first stealth aircraft took place at a classified installation, known as Area 51 along the dry Groom Lake bed three decades ago, sources who worked there have said. The first war-fighting F-117s were based at the Tonopah Test Range.
THURSDAY
NBA: Casinos in, sports books out
Las Vegas' legalized sports books remain a concern for NBA leaders, Commissioner David Stern said, even as plans move forward to place the 2007 All-Star Weekend within the shadows of Strip resorts.
While some raised eyebrows when the National Basketball Association tabbed Las Vegas as All-Star host, Stern repeated Thursday that his league had no quarrel with casinos in general.
Though he no longer gambles, Stern said, he enjoyed blackjack in his younger days. And NBA bylaws, he added, do not prevent players, coaches or owners from gambling, as long as that gambling does not involve NBA events.
"We certainly thought that (next year's All-Star selection) was a way to demonstrate that our current position vis-a-vis Las Vegas is in no way rooted in that ancient notion that somehow gambling is bad," Stern said.
FRIDAY
Forum focuses on
the toll of meth
Officials at a Clark County symposium on methamphetamine use said 80 percent to 90 percent of youths who have drug problems and are involved in the county's juvenile justice system say meth is their drug of choice.
"There isn't enough help in this community" for meth addicts, said Dr. Robert Mull, a UMC physician. "People don't seem to care. We just don't know what to do."
County officials organized their first meth symposium to draw attention to the toll that the cheap, highly addictive drug -- one that can be ingested, smoked or injected -- takes on Southern Nevada's medical, law enforcement and child welfare providers.
