Man pleads guilty in Metro officer’s slaying

The cop killer and his accomplices drove toward an open garage door.

Trevor Nettleton and Larry Rinetti, best friends and Metro officers who had served in the Marines together, were on the phone, discussing how to handle a scenario where the life of an officer’s family member was at risk.

It was shortly after midnight, on Nov. 19, 2009, and Nettleton had just returned from his late shift at the Bolden Area Command. He was tinkering in his North Las Vegas garage and realized he did not have a weapon on him.

“Go into your safe, grab a gun, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Rinetti said.

They hung up, and within minutes, 18-year-old Prentice Marshall approached with a Glock in his hand.

A firefight ensued, as Nettleton’s 2-year-old son, Tanner, and 2-month-old daughter, Quinn, along with his wife, Danielle, and mother, Deborah Austern, slept inside the home.

It’s unclear whether Nettleton identified himself as a police officer, but there was no evidence to suggest that anyone in the group knew Nettleton worked in law enforcement before the attack.

Police at the time described the crime as a random robbery attempt that lead to Nettleton’s killing.

Almost six years after the slaying, Marshall, who had been facing the death penalty, pleaded guilty Monday to murder and robbery charges.

Even with a fatal wound to his heart, Nettleton shot back. Marshall was struck in the testicles as he fled the scene.

“He wanted so bad to protect his family that he was still able to return fire and ultimately solve his own murder,” Rinetti said. “He was able to continue to fight until the threat was gone.

Nettleton stumbled back inside his house, where he saw that his family was safe.

“Then he laid down and died,” Rinetti said. “That to me is the epitome of a hero.”

In a last-minute deal with prosecutors, just after his lawyers announced they were ready to start a jury trial next week, Marshall entered a plea to each of the eight counts alleged, including first-degree murder, robbery, and burglary in connection with the killing.

Marshall, now 24, accepted a deal that would have him sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors have said that Marshall and three others — Saul Williams Jr., Quadrae Scott and Adrian Pena — were driving around with criminal intentions when they saw the garage door of Nettleton’s North Las Vegas home open.

Two counts Marshall admitted to Monday were related to the carjacking of a 2005 Ford Mustang that occurred at a convenience store two days before Nettleton was killed. Another count tied Marshall to a robbery that occurred 30 minutes before the fatal shootout.

Prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo said Marshall was a member of the Wood Street gang, and that the shooting highlighted the danger of gang activity.

“He’s a cop in his own home, and he gets killed,” DiGiacomo said. “For God’s sake, what about the rest of us?”

Marshall’s lawyers said he could still appeal District Judge Jessie Walsh’s ruling on a statement Marshall made while hospitalized. If he wins that appeal, he could be granted a trial.

Borthers Emmitt and Michael Ferguson, who lived in the same house with Williams, pleaded guilty in 2011 to felony accessory to murder for hiding the murder weapon in their attic.

Scott pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2012 , and Pena later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, robbery and attempted robbery. Williams is still awaiting trial.

Though it has been years since their last conversation, Larry Rinetti, now a detective in the robbery and homicide division, thinks about his friend several times a day. In the Marines, they’d catch UFC fights together, and never watched an NFL game alone.

They met in 1998 while serving together in Bangor, Wash. Their duty sent them to different parts of the country for a few years, but they joined forces again at the White House Communication Agency, serving under President George W. Bush.

“A military bond is a brotherhood like no other,” Rinetti said. “He became tighter with me than my own family.”

Even Rinetti’s 11-year-old son idolizes Nettleton and says a prayer for him before going to bed. They visit his grave on his birthday and holidays.

Rinetti thinks about taking their kids to baseball games, and “things we had discussed in the past that he’s not here to share with me.”

“I find myself wishing he was here,” Rinetti said.

Nettleton met his future wife in Washington, D.C., and the couple moved to Las Vegas, where Rinetti was already working as a police officer.

Nettleton started with the police academy in 2006, and immediately showed signs of a rising star on the force, Rinetti said. Nettleton’s father, Richard Nettleton, is a retired highway trooper.

Rinetti believes his friend would have joined the department’s SWAT team by now and proved to be one of the most tactically sound on the force.

“That was all he wanted to do,” he said.

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