Jury to deliberate in murder trial over Las Vegas resort shooting

A jury is set to begin deliberations on Tuesday in a murder trial for a man accused of shooting a 20-year-old woman in the back of the head and neck at a Las Vegas resort.

Michael Land, 40, represented himself on one count of murder with use of a deadly weapon during the trial that started last week. He is accused of killing Bailley Short, who was found dead on Aug. 15, 2018, in an alleyway on the property of Tahiti Village, 7200 S. Las Vegas Blvd.

“He led her to that alleyway right by the parking garage he knew all about, and he executed her,” prosecutor Christopher Hamner told jurors during closing arguments Monday evening.

Land shook his head and put his head in his hand multiple times.

Earlier in the day, Land took the witness stand to speak to the jury and face cross-examination. Hamner said Land contradicted himself while on the stand, similar to contradictions he made when police interviewed him for nearly two hours in May 2019.

At one point Monday, Land testified that the officer who arrested him months after Short’s death told him he had a “homicide warrant,” but later claimed he did not know what the warrant was for when detectives interviewed him.

Land sighed and appeared frustrated during cross examination, when he admitted to lying in the police interview about knowing Short’s name, going on a date with her in the past, being with her on the night she died, and owning a gun.

Police believe Land was one of two men who were with Short in the early hours of Aug. 15, according to Land’s arrest report. A man whom Short would pay for rides told police he drove her to pick up another man at Aria.

The man knew Short as a sex worker, and Short told him she was going to meet a “regular” client named Mike, the report said.

Security footage captured Land and Short walking on the Tahiti Village property, toward the area where Short’s body was later found. Only one person was on video walking away from the scene, Hamner said during opening statements last week.

Land told jurors that prosecutors failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he shot Short. Land said he thought Short was “in trouble” on the night she was killed, and he met with her to help. He said Short stopped to get food at Jack in the Box, but he left her after the driver dropped them off near Tahiti Village.

“Where is the malice proved between me and the victim throughout this entire investigation?” Land said. “You’re not going to find it, ‘cause there is none.”

Through DNA, bullet casings found at the scene and a bullet lodged in Short’s chin, investigators linked the gun used to killed the 20-year-old to a gun found in Land’s apartment. Land said he never fired the gun, which he said he bought from a drug dealer to protect himself after his home was burglarized.

Land said he purchased bullets at a Bass Pro Shops that matched some of the bullets the man who sold the gun gave him. But prosecutors argued that investigators found a 20-pack of bullets in Land’s apartment that matched the bullets used to kill Short, and only two were missing.

Hamner told the jury that Land “awkwardly” tried and failed to cover up the crime.

“When you watch his interview, he thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room, and he’s not,” Hamner said.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.