Jury starts deliberations in death of Nellis airman

He never met Nellis Air Force staff sergeant Nathan Paet, and his affair with Paet's wife was fleeting.

But Michael Rodriguez manipulated the 2010 killing of Paet, motivated by greed, prosecutors said Thursday as Rodriguez's death penalty trial came to a close.

"It wasn't a love triangle for him. It wasn't about a broken heart or dashed hopes and dreams. Plain and simple, for Michael Rodriguez, this crime was about money," prosecutor Pamela Weckerly told jurors during closing arguments. "He was willing to kill someone he had never even met simply because the price was right."

Rodriguez and the victim's wife, Michelle Paet, planned the murder over the course of six months, while Rodriguez thoroughly studied Nathan Paet's life insurance, prosecutors said. They determined Rodriguez would get $150,000 for orchestrating the slaying.

But defense lawyer Monica Trujillo told jurors that Rodriguez was "high, light-headed and confused" and did not intend to kill Paet the night he was gunned down in the garage of his far southwest valley home.

Late Thursday, jurors began deliberating the charges of conspiracy to commit murder, murder with use of a deadly weapon and burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon. They were expected to resume deliberations Friday morning.

The 28-year-old Nathan Paet was shot five times late on the night of Dec. 1, 2010 while leaving for work at the Air Force Base.

Prosecutors said Michelle Paet wanted her husband gone and planned the killing with her lover and coworker.

Rodriguez, who admitted to being at the scene of the crime, is the first of four defendants, along with Michelle Paet, alleged gunman Corry Hawkins and alleged accomplice Jessica Austin, to face trial in the killing.

Moments before slaying, Rodriguez had sent a thinly coded text message to Michelle Paet that read, "This contract is a pain."

Michelle Paet texted back: "My husband just woke up. I guess he's late. Lol."

Rodriguez was waiting outside in his black Cadillac CTS with Hawkins, prosecutors have said.

The first shot struck Nathan Paet in the neck as he put on his shoes in the garage, prosecutors said. As gunfire continued, he stumbled back inside the home, blood soaking his camouflage fatigues, and collapsed in front of his four children, ages 2 through 9.

Paet was the assistant non-commissioned officer-in-charge for the Strike Aircraft Maintenance Supply section of the 757th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Nellis. Prosecutors say the airman's life insurance policy was increased to $600,000 less than a month before he was killed. Authorities have said that Michelle Paet admitted to planning the killing in October 2010.

Defense attorneys have painted Michelle Paet as the mastermind of the killing, saying she tried to take out a life insurance policy on her husband as early as April 2009, well before even meeting Rodriguez.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker.