Brother who killed sister gets life terms

Robert Charles Lamb was sentenced Thursday to two consecutive life sentences without parole for shooting his sister to death in the parking lot of a Henderson school in 2004.

"I loved my sister," Lamb told District Judge Donald M. Mosley. "She was a wonderful sister and a wonderful person."

Lamb, 57, will appeal his conviction, court officials said, and his second life sentence might be reduced to 20 years because of a law passed last year.

"I don't think this defendant deserves any latitude at all," Mosley said. "This was horrendous."

On Dec. 15, 2004, Lamb shot Susan Bivans eight times in the parking lot of Warren-Walker School after Bivans had dropped off her 6-year-old daughter.

Authorities said Lamb was motivated by the fact that he was left out of his father's will.

Lamb had moved from Florida to Las Vegas before his father's death and told Bivans "he was here because he plans on getting his fair share of the money from their parents and he would do anything he needed to do to get his money," according to a 2002 harassment complaint Bivans filed against her brother.

Bivans' husband, Stuart, told police his wife had been threatened by Lamb for two years because he was left out of the will.

Susan Bivans and Lamb's father died in August 2003, and his estate went to his wife and daughter. In February 2004, Susan Bivans was given full control of the estate, which was worth less than $200,000, according to court records.

Stuart Bivans, who attended the sentencing with family friend Vilma Abraham, said he did not think that Lamb's sentencing merited media coverage.

"This isn't any more newsworthy than me taking out my trash," he said. "The trash just got taken out."

Contact reporter Scott Spjut at sspjut@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0279.