Donald Alan Hartzog Clark County volunteer firefighter accused of gunning down a man Jamie Denning Longtime friend of victim who witnessed the shooting

Troy Nenstiel liked to drive fast.

His family and friends recalled Thursday how the 41-year-old Las Vegas electrician enjoyed racing his motorcycle.

"One of his favorite sayings was 'I'm not driving fast, I'm flying low,'" his cousin Terry Kozlowski said in a courtroom hallway Thursday.

She and a handful of friends and family watched the preliminary hearing of Nenstiel's accused killer, Donald Alan Hartzog, 37, in Justice Court, where Judge Abbi Silver bound him over to District Court to face the charge of murder.

Hartzog, a Clark County volunteer firefighter, is accused of gunning down Nenstiel on Feb. 19 as Nenstiel tried to help his friend -- Hartzog's ex-girlfriend, Jamie Denning -- move from Hartzog's Cold Creek home to Las Vegas.

It was Nenstiel's speeding that defense attorney Kristina Wildeveld highlighted in court Thursday, along with the "bad blood" between him and Hartzog, as she tried to depict the shooting as a justifiable homicide.

"Alan (Hartzog) was acting in self-defense," Wildeveld told jurors.

She made the point that an autopsy found methamphetamine in Nenstiel's system.

Denning, who had lived with and dated Hartzog for several months, was the state's sole witness. She said that as far as she knew, Nenstiel did not use street drugs.

She described how, after she had packed all her things from Hartzog's house into Nenstiel's truck, Hartzog had left the house first.

Nenstiel, with Denning in the passenger seat, drove behind Hartzog on the lone dirt road to leave Cold Creek and head back to Las Vegas.

Hartzog drove his car fast, and Nenstiel tried to catch up. At about 40 mph, he tailed Hartzog along the road until Hartzog made a sudden stop and got out of his car with a gun in his hand.

"He kind of waves it and shows it, like, 'Ha, ha,'" Denning testified.

She said Hartzog shot Nenstiel's rear tire and ordered him out of the truck.

Hartzog then shot him in the arm, Denning said. Nenstiel screamed and tried to run behind his truck as Hartzog continued shooting, she said.

"I saw his back was already full of gunshot wounds," she said.

Hartzog followed Nenstiel with his arm extended and kept shooting, Denning said.

Wildeveld said that after the shooting, Hartzog went to call police and returned to the scene to help. He told police he had killed Nenstiel in self-defense but said he never saw the victim armed, police said.

Hartzog had told Denning to never bring Nenstiel to his house, she acknowledged under questioning from Wildeveld.

Wildeveld also had Denning, who was friends with Nenstiel for five to six years, tell the jury that at one point, she had a restraining order against him because he kept deflating her car tires. About 10 days before the shooting, Hartzog's tire had been slashed.

Denning said she asked Nenstiel to slow the car down on the bumpy road that day, and Wildeveld made the point that there was no reason for Nenstiel to try to keep up with Hartzog's car.

Denning had to be told by the judge more than once to answer the defense attorney's questions. It was clear she felt devoted to the victim.

On a Web page featuring Nenstiel's obituary, Denning called Hartzog a coward and thanked Nenstiel "for looking out for me and protecting me. I feel I cost you your life. I never wanted that. All you wanted was to take me away from all this."

Mike Parise, a lifelong friend of Nenstiel, said Hartzog was jealous of Denning's friendship with Nenstiel.

He said it was typical of Nenstiel to help a friend in need.

Sandra Nenstiel said her son, a graduate of Southern Nevada Vocational Technical Center, could repair any broken household item.

"If anything went wrong, he was always there to fix it," she said.