Ex-Las Vegas police officer could face death penalty in 1997 case

Prosecutors are deciding whether to seek capital punishment for a former Las Vegas police officer charged in a woman’s 1997 shooting death.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Giancarlo Pesci said the decision could be made by the end of the month, after the death penalty review committee at the Clark County district attorney’s office analyzes the allegations against 51-year-old Arthur Sewall Jr.

Sewall, who is being held without bail, has admitted involvement in a May 1997 sexual encounter and shooting that left a woman dead, according to court documents.

Earlier this year, authorities brought Sewall to Las Vegas from Reno, where he was arrested after investigators said they discovered DNA evidence that linked him to the slaying of 20-year-old Nadia Iverson.

Sewall faces one count of murder with a deadly weapon. In January, Sewall told police that he paid Iverson money for sex and that she was shot during their sexual encounter, according to an arrest warrant.

Iverson’s body was found at a construction site near Washington Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard with a gunshot wound to the head, Las Vegas police said.

Her rape kit was not sent for testing until March 2016. Hers was among the nearly 6,500 untested kits that had accumulated in Southern Nevada from 1985 through 2014.

In a February 1997 video surveillance sting operation at the now-closed Del Mar Motel, 1411 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Sewall was seen forcing a woman to perform sex acts on him while he was on duty, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal reports at the time.

Sewall resigned from the force and was sentenced in 1999 to five years of probation after pleading guilty to two counts of oppression under color of law.

After probation violations, Sewall served more than a year in prison, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections.

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