‘Show and tell’ killer paroled

CARSON CITY -- Las Vegas "show and tell" killer Sandy Shaw was granted parole Monday by the state Parole Board.

The 36-year-old is scheduled to be released Dec. 17 from the Southern Nevada Women's Correctional Center in North Las Vegas.

A spokeswoman said the actual release could be a couple of days earlier when additional good time credits are applied.

Shaw will be let out of prison more than 21 years after she and two teenage accomplices, Troy Kell and William Merritt, killed James Cotton Kelly, 21. Shaw was a 15-year-old Rancho High School student at the time of the killing.

Shaw lured Kelly into the desert where he was robbed of $1,400 and shot six times in the face.

George Thiede, Kelly's brother, said Monday that he was shocked and dismayed by the Parole Board's decision. He said he was so upset that he did not want to talk about it.

In her recent appearances before the pardons and parole boards, Shaw has denied firing any of the shots that killed Kelly. Witnesses testified Shaw told them after the crime that she had participated in the actual shooting, but her defense said she was just bragging.

"I was not the shooter," Shaw said during a parole hearing in 2004. "We didn't know Troy had a gun."

She claimed that Kelly was making unwanted calls to her and wanted to photograph her in the nude.

In the days after Kelly's slaying, Shaw took friends to view the corpse, inducing the news media to refer to the case as the "show and tell" murder. Kelly's body was not discovered by police for six days.

For years, Thiede has showed up at Parole Board and Pardons Board hearings to protest moves to grant Shaw any leniency. Thiede wanted Shaw to serve 40 years in prison.

He has repeatedly challenged statements made by Shaw at court hearings, and contended court transcripts show Shaw shot his brother.

Shaw initially was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The state Pardons Board in 2004 commuted her life sentence, making her immediately eligible for parole. Supreme Court Justice Bob Rose said at the time he did not expect Shaw would be released for three years to five years.

At her Parole Board hearing three years ago, commissioners denied her parole in part because of two recent disciplinary infractions. They urged her to change her ways if she wanted to win parole.

During a hearing Aug. 29, prison authorities told the Parole Board that Shaw hadn't committed any infractions nor been disciplined for more than three years.

That clearly carried weight with Parole Board members who asked her about her prison activities and stressed the importance of not being a discipline problem.

"I will forever regret taking away his life," Shaw said about Kelly during the hearing. "I have done a lot of growing up. It takes a lifetime to build a life, but only a second to tear it down."

Shaw spoke of how she has an opportunity to apply for a receptionist job and other employment when she is released. She added she wanted to perform volunteer work with humane society organizations and troubled juveniles.

Shaw expressed regret over the killing and said she could understand Thiede's views.

"Not a day goes by that I don't think about the victim or the family. I will be forever sorry," she said.