Man gets life term in Reno killing

RENO -- A jury has recommended the maximum penalty for a man convicted of murdering a university professor after hearing him described as a brilliant, calculating, cold-blooded killer who should spend his life in prison with no chance for parole.

The same Washoe County District Court jurors who found Mohamed Kamaludeen guilty of first-degree murder in the 2007 stabbing death of Judy Calder after about four hours of deliberations Wednesday took about two hours Thursday to return their sentencing verdict.

Kamaludeen also was found guilty of solicitation for murder in an earlier attempt on the life of the 64-year-old professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Judge Patrick Flanagan set sentencing for both charges for Dec. 10. The death penalty is not an option under the conditions of Kamaludeen's extradition from Mexico.

Kamaludeen's public defenders had argued he should be sentenced to life with the possibility of parole because he was not the only one involved in the murder and might not have been the one who stabbed her at his Reno printing business on Aug. 18, 2007.

Kamaludeen claimed the man who testified he witnessed the killing, Carlos Filomeno, actually did it. He said Calder's husband, Jim, gave him money to hire Filomeno to commit the crime for $50,000 because of a dispute over the Calders' will.

Kamaludeen, a friend of the Calders who also went by the alias Rickey Barge, said he played that same go-between role in Judy Calder's slaying as he did in a failed attempt to kill her at the couple's Incline Village home in August 2006.

Jim Calder has denied any role in the killing and has not been charged.