IN BRIEF
WOMAN FINDS HUSBAND DEAD
Police search for suspect in slaying
Police were searching for a suspect in the slaying of a man in an east valley home Tuesday afternoon.
Las Vegas police said a woman arrived at her house at 4317 Sunrise Avenue, near Charleston and Lamb boulevards, about 12:30 p.m. and found her husband dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
The name of the victim was not released.
Witnesses saw the suspect, a thin male, fleeing the residence in the victim's 1987 Chevrolet Caprice with paper license plates, police said. The car is two-toned, with dark blue paint over light blue paint, and has 24-inch wheels.
The vehicle was last seen driving south on Lamb toward Charleston.
Anybody with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 385-5555.
EARLY SUNDAY INCIDENT
Police officer who shot suspect identified
Las Vegas police identified the officer involved in Sunday's shooting of a knife-wielding man as a 37-year-old officer with 12 years of experience in the department.
Officer Shalley D. Dowdy fired one round at 37-year-old Julio Cesar Velazquez early Sunday at a house on the 4500 block of Swandale Avenue, near Boulder Highway and Lamb Boulevard, police said.
Police were called to the house to respond to a report of a man with a knife threatening to harm his roommate and kill himself.
Police found Velazquez in front of the residence, where he refused orders to drop the knife and surrender. He placed the knife to his throat, police said.
Velazquez then tried to enter the house, where his elderly roommate was, and Dowdy fired his weapon, police said. Velazquez was taken into custody and transported to Sunrise Trauma Center, where he was expected to survive.
BUCKLEY PROPOSED MEASURE
Senate panel urged to OK veterans court bill
A state Senate panel has been urged to support an Assembly-approved plan that would set up a specialized court for military veterans charged with nonviolent crimes while struggling to readjust to civilian life.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is considering Assembly Bill 187, proposed by Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas. Under the plan, veterans could go through a treatment program and, if they complete the program, have their criminal file sealed.
Critics have questioned why vets should get such special treatment. Buckley said that "the answer is pretty obvious. They put their lives on the line for our protection. This is the least we can do for our vets."
The bill is modeled after a veterans' court in Buffalo, N.Y., the first of its kind in the nation.
DEAL INCLUDES NO JAIL TIME
Paleontologist guilty of dinosaur bone theft
A famed paleontologist who discovered the world's best preserved dinosaur pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing dinosaur fossils from federal land in Montana.
Nate Murphy, 51, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Great Falls under a plea agreement that will not seek jail time when he is sentenced July 9.
Murphy would have faced up to 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release.
U.S. Magistrate Keith Strong initially refused to accept the plea after Murphy said he had made a "mistake" in not accurately mapping where fossils were recovered, said the prosecutor, assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Fehr.
"This was not a mistake," Fehr said. "If this was merely a mistake, it would not be sufficient for a criminal charge."
Murphy later clarified that pinpointing the exact location of fossil finds was standard scientific procedure and that he did not do so in two instances.
In his plea to theft of government property, Murphy also admitted to acting with "willful ignorance or blindness," indicating that he knew his actions risked violating the law.
