Former Las Vegas firefighter gets life plus 81 years in murder of wife

In the end, it was the hammer.

Handing down a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole plus a maximum of 81 years Tuesday, a judge noted just how thoroughly Las Vegas fireman George Tiaffay plotted his wife's death, right down to the strength of the murder weapon.

"I can't imagine what it would take to break the wooden handle of a hammer," District Judge Eric Johnson told Tiaffay on Tuesday. "But you pondered that. You were concerned about that. ... You allowed this to go forward, knowing the most vicious attack that I can imagine was going to happen."

In dark blue jail fatigues, Tiaffay stared straight ahead, with his hands clasped over a belly chain, and showed no emotion.

He offered a homeless man $5,000 to kill 46-year-old Shauna Tiaffay, a Palms cocktail waitress.

The hired hitman, Noel "Greyhound" Stevens, and George Tiaffay were caught on surveillance video purchasing a hammer, gloves and a knife just weeks before the woman was bludgeoned to death inside her Summerlin apartment.

Stevens told authorities that Tiaffay made sure they purchased a hammer with a fiberglass handle that would not break.

Stevens said he made several dry runs before he killed Shauna Tiaffay, at one point burglarizing her apartment. In another instance, Stevens staked out her workplace and bumped into police officers who confiscated what they thought to be burglary tools, including the new hammer.

Early on the morning of Sept. 29, 2012, Stevens, who said he only received $600 of the money he was promised, broke into Shauna Tiaffay's apartment and, with a wooden-handled hammer in his hand, waited for her to arrive home from work.

She collapsed from the first blow to the head.

As Stevens continued, the wooden handle broke, so he clutched the metal and struck her with the claw.

Hours after the slaying, Tiaffay, 43, walked the couple's 8-year-old daughter, Madison, into the Summerlin apartment, prosecutors said, knowing that his wife was dead inside.

On Tuesday, Paula Stokes said her sister's last moments "constantly haunt my mind ... The excruciating pain she must have endured. And the terror and realization that she was going to die. It's all unimaginable. I have no doubt she was thinking of sweet little Madison as she took her last breath."

Stevens has pleaded guilty and is slated to be sentenced in January. A Clark County jury convicted Tiaffay of first-degree murder, robbery, burglary and conspiracy charges on Sept. 3.

At sentencing, both prosecutors and defense attorney Robert Langford pointed to Tiaffay's honorable life before the slaying. He was a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and once considered a local hero, admired by fellow firefighters.

"It's Mr. Tiaffay's history that makes this crime so egregious," said Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo.

Defense attorney Robert Langford asked the judge to consider Tiaffay's past favorably.

"Who you were for a long, long time should count for something, and not count against you," Langford said. "The things that you've done good in this life should also count, and it shouldn't be twisted around."

The judge told Tiaffay that he couldn't make sense of "why you of all people would do something that you know would be so cruel to so many people beyond just Shauna.

"My sentence today is not based upon holding you to a higher standard. My sentence is based upon the fact that this was just pure evil."

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