Luxor garage bombers receive life sentences

A Clark County jury showed mercy and spared the lives of two men convicted of the fatal bombing at the Luxor parking garage in May 2007.

Omar Rueda-Denvers, 33, and Porfirio Duarte-Herrera, 29, will spend the rest of their lives behind bars for building and planting the pipe bomb that killed Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio.

Authorities say Dorantes Antonio was targeted because he was in a relationship with Rueda-Denvers' ex-girlfriend, Caren Chali. Rueda-Denvers and Chali have a child together. Chali was with Dorantes Antonio when the bomb went off and survived. Prosecutors unsuccessfully sought the death penalty for the men. Both defendants stood stoically while the sentence of life without the possibility of parole was read.

Prosecutor Nell Keenan said, "We accept the verdict, and this community should accept the penalty these jurors have given down. This is justice."

Attorneys for both defendants said they plan to appeal the verdict on the basis that the defendants were not given separate trials.

The defense attorneys repeatedly, both before and during the trial, attempted to have the two defendants tried separately.

Those attempts were quashed by Judge Michael Villani.

Rueda-Denvers' attorney, Christopher Oram, said, "Severance will be one of the biggest issues" on appeal.

Oram has said his client could not receive a fair trial because Villani would not let him discuss at trial previous bombings he said were committed by Duarte-Herrera.

Villani ruled that those bombings had no bearing on the Luxor case.

Oram said he was denied the ability to present a defense that Duarte-Herrera was a serial bomber. Oram has said his client did not know Duarte-Herrera had put a bomb on Dorantes Antonio's car, because it was disguised as a coffee cup.

Oram argued during the trial that Rueda-Denvers' mere presence at the Luxor did not prove he knew about the bomb.

During the trial, prosecutors painted Rueda-Denvers as a jealous ex-lover of Chali and said components that helped build the bomb were found at his workplace.

Oram said Tuesday that if another jury were allowed to hear the serial bomber defense, a different verdict might be reached.

He added, "We're very relieved the jury spared our client's life."

Duarte-Herrera's attorney, Clark Patrick, said, "Obviously we're very happy with the verdict. We never felt this was a case that should have been death-qualified in the first place. This was not one of the worst of the worst."

Patrick also said an appeal will be filed for his client based on the severance issue.

Rueda-Denvers and Duarte-Herrera also were found guilty of one count each of attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon and transportation or receipt of an explosive for unlawful purpose. They were also convicted of two counts of possession of an explosive or incendiary device.

A formal sentencing for all the charges will be held in November.

Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.