IN BRIEF

ACCIDENT ALLEGED

Laughlin man is arrested in wife's shooting death

A Laughlin man has been arrested in his wife's death, according to Las Vegas police.

Walter Freshman, 50, called 911 about 3:30 p.m. Sunday and told emergency personnel he had accidentally shot his wife, police said.

When police arrived, they discovered the body of a woman with a gunshot wound to her head.

Police are withholding the woman's name pending family notification.

Freshman will make his first court appearance in Laughlin at 7:30 a.m. today.

APPEAL MANDATORY

Man gets death penalty in slaying of teenage niece

The jury that convicted a Golden Valley, Ariz., man of first-degree murder in the death of his teenage niece decided Monday that Brad Nelson, 39, should be executed.

Police and prosecutors told the jury that Nelson molested 14-year-old Amber Graff in a Kingman motel room before fatally clubbing her in the head with a rubber mallet.

The incident occurred while Nelson was caring for Graff and her brother while their mother was hospitalized in June 2006.

An appeal of the murder conviction and death sentence is mandatory under Arizona law. Defense attorneys said they also will file a renewed motion for mistrial by Dec. 14.

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Coroner: Lawyer Buchanan died of natural causes

Prominent Las Vegas attorney James L. "Bucky" Buchanan died last month from natural causes, the Clark County coroner's office has determined.

Buchanan was backing his Ferrari into his driveway on Nov. 7 when he suffered a "medical episode" and crashed the car. Cardiovascular disease claimed the 74-year-old man's life, a medical examiner found.

The defense attorney practiced in Nevada for more than 40 years.

He is survived by his wife, four children and several grandchildren.

INFORMATION SOUGHT

38-year-old man shot, killed at house party is identified

The man shot and killed at a house party Friday night has been identified as 38-year-old Robert Hayes.

Hayes was at a small party on Blankenship Avenue, near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Carey Avenue, when the shooting happened at 9:32 p.m., Las Vegas police said.

Police said an argument at the party resulted in a suspect shooting Hayes multiple times and wounding another person in the left elbow. The suspect, described as a 31-year-old black male, fled on foot.

Anyone with information on the slaying is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555.