Jurors return guilty verdicts in capital case involving 2010 crime spree

A former process server showed no emotion Wednesday as a court clerk read guilty verdict after guilty verdict in his capital murder case.

Two counts of first-degree murder. Attempted murder. Sexual assault. Kidnapping. Arson. Robbery. Battery. Burglary. Conspiracy.

In all, Gregory Hover heard the word “guilty” 31 times as he sat, hands folded, and listened to the jury’s decisions. The charges stem from Hover’s role in a two-man crime spree that left two people dead in January 2010.

Denise Espitia also sat in court and listened to the verdicts.

“That’s what we wanted, so I’m glad everything turned out this way,” she said afterward.

Espitia’s younger sister, 21-year-old Prisma Contreras, was one of the murder victims in the case.

Authorities said Hover and another man, Richard Freeman Jr., kidnapped the woman from a parking lot on East Tropicana Avenue before taking her to a remote area where they raped her, strangled her and cut her throat.

The victim’s body was found in a burned-out car south of Boulder City on Jan. 15, 2010.

Espitia, who came to court Wednesday with her mother and a family friend, said she plans to speak at Hover’s penalty hearing, which is scheduled to begin Tuesday in District Judge Carolyn Ellsworth’s courtroom.

She doesn’t yet know what she will say to the jury, but she knows she wants Hover to receive the death penalty.

“Whatever he gets, that’s what he deserves,” Espitia added. “No matter what, he’s still going to suffer.”

Espitia, 26, paused and fought back tears when asked to describe her sister.

“She was just, like, you know, the energy of the house,” Espitia said.

She said her sister “was always happy, singing, always laughing.”

“Things aren’t the same without her,” Espitia said.

Contreras was married and had a 4-year-old daughter at the time of her death. The girl is now 7.

Hover, 41, also was convicted of fatally shooting 64-year-old Julio Romero on Jan. 25, 2010.

Authorities said Hover, who worked as a process server for Junes Legal Service, had visited Romero’s home to serve legal papers. Early the next morning, Hover broke into the house, killed Romero and shot Romero’s wife, Roberta, who survived.

Hover also was accused of using a handgun to rob the casino areas of three grocery stores in January 2010. Authorities said Freeman acted as a getaway driver and lookout.

Freeman, who turns 22 Thursday , escaped the possibility of a death sentence by pleading guilty last month to two counts of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon for his roles in the Contreras and Romero killings. His sentencing is scheduled for June 26.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.