Man guilty in slaying from 1985

Justice for Beth Lynn Jardine might have been delayed for 25 years, but it wasn't denied.

A Clark County jury deliberated less than an hour on Wednesday before finding 61-year-old Charles Conner guilty of first-degree murder and two counts of sexual assault for killing and raping Jardine in 1985.

Conner, who has thyroid cancer, stood stoically while the verdict was read.

The jury of 11 women and one man will hear evidence today during the penalty phase of the trial to decide Conner's punishment.

Nevada law gives a jury four options for punishment: the death penalty; life in prison without the possibility of parole; life in prison with parole eligibility after 20 years; or 50 years in prison with parole eligibility after 20 years.

Prosecutors are expected to present prior bad acts during the penalty phase, including Conner's 1996 conviction for kidnapping and raping a 10-year-old girl in Arkansas.

Because of that conviction, Conner's DNA was entered into a national database, which eventually led investigators in the Jardine case to him.

On June 3, 1985, Jardine, a 23-year-old airman 2nd class stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, was found in her northeast Las Vegas apartment by maintenance workers. She was nude and had been bludgeoned to death with a claw hammer.

During the four-day trial, prosecutors presented evidence that included DNA and bloody fingerprints recovered from the crime scene that matched Conner.

Jurors also heard a recorded confession Conner made in 2007 to two Las Vegas police detectives.

"I think I hit her with a hammer a bunch of times," Conner told the detectives.

He also confessed to having anal sex with Jardine after striking her.

Conner hit Jardine more than 20 times in the head, according to testimony from a Clark County medical examiner.

The jury saw graphic photographs of Jardine's bloodied face and autopsy photos of the hammer strikes. Crime scene photos of Jardine's apartment depicted a mess of blood on the floor, walls and ceiling.

In a dramatic moment during closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutor Joshua Tomsheck acted out Conner's actions. He removed the murder weapon from an evidence bag and swung it repeatedly in front of the jury.

"After he hits her and the blood starts to ooze out of her scalp and her skull, do you think he's thinking she's going to die, because he doesn't stop. He swings the hammer again and again and again," Tomsheck said.

"He can smell that blood. It is all over her. It's all over her house. It's on the east wall, the west wall, her stereo speakers, her ceiling, her kitchen cabinets. It is all over him. It's on his hands. It's on his face. And he knows she's not going to make it. He knows she's going to die. He's made a decision in his mind to kill her. That is premeditation."

Public defender Christy Craig asked the jury to consider that Conner's actions, while inexcusable, were not premeditated.

Craig said that Conner was "full of rage and out of control" and his actions were not "cold, calculating and planned."

She pointed to Conner's statement to police in which he described his time in Las Vegas as a drunken haze.

"Alcoholism is not an excuse in this case, but it is an explanation," Craig said.

Prosecutor Pam Weckerly told the jury in closing that the case was clearly an example of justice delayed.

"It couldn't be more delayed. But it shouldn't be denied," Weckerly said.

"It's 25 years later. But what happened to her matters, and it is time for him to be held fully accountable for what he did."

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