Former county Republican Party treasurer again found guilty of murder

For the second time, a former Clark County Republican Party treasurer has been found guilty of killing his former wife and her father.

After a six-day trial and about 90 minutes of deliberation, a District Court jury on Tuesday found John Chartier guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder for the deaths of Rachel Bernat and Carlos Aragon.

Bernat and Aragon were stabbed multiple times and left for dead at their home in 2004 by Chartier's friend, David Wilcox. Prosecutors said Wilcox acted out of loyalty when Chartier asked him to kill Bernat, 43, and Aragon, 65.

Prosecutors said the crime was rooted in a bitter custody dispute over the couple's young son. Bernat was planning to move to New Mexico with the boy.

Chartier and Wilcox were found guilty of the two murders in 2006, but the Nevada Supreme Court overturned Chartier's conviction two years later, saying the 41-year-old should have received a separate trial.

On Wednesday, prosecutor Robert Daskas said, "Twenty-four people have now said he's guilty. I hope that's enough."

Defense attorney Robert Draskovich said the verdict will be appealed.

The key piece of evidence was a note that Chartier sent to Wilcox asking him to kill Bernat and Aragon, Daskas said. The note to Wilcox said, "Take out mom and grandpa," which prosecutors said referred to his son's mother and grandfather, Bernat and Aragon.

Chartier, who testified in his own defense, said he didn't remember writing the note because he was high on prescription drugs and rum in the midst of a suicide attempt.

But prosecutors discredited his story on cross-examination by pointing out that the note to Wilcox was intelligible and cohesive and written in the same style as other notes Chartier admitted writing before the drugs and alcohol took effect.

Chartier's suicide attempt took place 26 months before the murders. Chartier also had instructed Wilcox to destroy the note so police wouldn't find it.

After the trial, jury members told prosecutors that Chartier's testimony wasn't credible, Daskas said.

"By the time he was done testifying, he had sealed his own fate," Daskas said.

When asked why Chartier ignored conventional wisdom and took the stand in his own defense, Draskovich said his client had "a very strong desire to testify."

Jurors also heard a graphic 911 call that was made by Bernat's mother, Iola Jean Taylor, as Wilcox attacked Bernat and Aragon. On the 911 tape Taylor sobbed, "They're killing my daughter." Bernat could be heard screaming in the background.

Testimony Taylor had given at the first trial was read into the record during the second trial, because she has since passed away.

Wilcox, 47, is serving multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole at High Desert State Prison for the murders, according to prison records. An appeal by Wilcox for his conviction was denied by the state's high court.

A sentencing hearing for Chartier was scheduled for June 21 before Judge Donald Mosley.