Prosecutors can seek death penalty in slaying

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court on Thursday said Clark County prosecutors can seek the death penalty in a murder-for-hire case involving the son of a former owner of a North Las Vegas strip club.

The court, in a rehearing of an appeal by Luis Hidalgo III, said the death penalty can be sought using the "pecuniary gain" aggravating circumstance.

Prosecutors sought the rehearing.

In an opinion issued in December, the court found that the act of solicitation to commit murder is not a crime that can be used as an aggravating factor to seek the death penalty.

The court then rejected the notice of intent to seek the death penalty filed by prosecutors.

But in the new decision, the court said the district attorney's office will be allowed to correct deficiencies in the original notice of intent to seek the death penalty by using a different aggravating circumstance involving pecuniary, or financial, gain.

The ruling will allow prosecutors to list factual allegations supporting their view that the murder served to further the business interests of the Palomino Club, a North Las Vegas strip club.

Prosecutors must prove one or more aggravating circumstances listed in state law in a murder case before a jury can consider whether to impose the death penalty.

Hidalgo III is the son of Luis A. Hidalgo Jr., the former owner of the club on North Las Vegas Boulevard.

Hidalgo III is charged with murder in the May 2005 shooting of Timothy Hadland, a former Palomino employee, who was slain near Lake Mead.

Authorities say Hidalgo III and an accomplice hired two men to kill Hadland, possibly because he was bad-mouthing the club to cabdrivers who might bring customers to the business.