Two men found guilty in Luxor bombing

Fears of a possible terrorist attack in Las Vegas had spread quickly after a bomb exploded on the rooftop of the Luxor parking garage in May 2007.

One man was dead. He was a 24-year-old hot dog stand worker from Mexico who was in the country illegally.

But investigators quickly discovered Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio was the victim of a jilted lover as well as a skilled bomb maker, authorities said.

More than two years later, a Clark County jury on Friday found Omar Rueda-Denvers and Porfirio Duarte-Herrera guilty of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon for building and planting the pipe bomb that exploded in Dorantes Antonio’s hand and sent shrapnel flying into his skull.

The jury, which reached its verdict after deliberating more than five hours, will next decide whether the two men should be put to death for their crime.

Authorities say Dorantes Antonio was targeted because he was in a relationship with Rueda-Denvers’ ex-girlfriend and daughter’s mother, Caren Chali, who was with Dorantes Antonio when the bomb went off and survived.

Rueda-Denvers, 33, and Duarte-Herrera, 29, also were found guilty of lesser charges.

Rueda-Denvers hung his head and Duarte-Herrera remained stoic as the verdict was read. Rueda-Denvers then sat down and collapsed his head into his arms on the defense table.

Both men are illegal immigrants and needed court interpreters to translate during the trial. Rueda-Denvers is from Guatemala and Duarte-Herrera from Nicaragua.

Afterwards, prosecutor Nell Keenan said, “We believe justice is served by this verdict. And it shows that the system has worked in this case.”

Defense attorneys did not comment following the verdict.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for both men. A life sentence will also be an option for jurors, who will begin hearing the penalty phase of the trial Monday morning.

The jury will hear additional evidence that includes a bombing outside a Las Vegas Home Depot on Halloween 2006 and others Duarte-Herrera allegedly committed.

The trial lasted five days and was marked by gruesome images of injuries Dorantes suffered as the result of the explosion.

Keenan described during closing arguments how the defendants coldly waited at a nearby gas station for the bomb to explode and kill Dorantes Antonio in this “spectacular and vicious manner.”

Dorantes Antonio detonated the bomb when he picked it up off the roof of his Dodge sedan. The container was innocuous looking, a 24-ounce 7-Eleven Styrofoam coffee cup.

Chali was uninjured only because she was shorter than the roof of the sedan and thus shielded from the blast, Keenan said.

Keenan described Rueda-Denvers as a jealous ex-lover who was obsessed with Chali and once watched from a distance as Chali and Dorantes Antonio had sex in a car in the Luxor parking lot. Keenan said Rueda-Denvers’ best friend, Duarte-Herrera, had “brilliant bomb making ability.”

Investigators testified that components similar to those used to make the bomb were found at Duarte-Herrera’s home and Rueda-Denvers’ work site. Duarte-Herrera also confessed to detectives and even drew them a picture of the bomb he made.

Meanwhile, Rueda-Denvers and Duarte-Herrera attempted to pin the crime on each other. Duarte-Herrera’s attorney Clark Patrick argued that Rueda-Denvers had the motive to kill Dorantes Antonio and the ability to make the bomb.

Rueda-Denvers’ attorney, Christopher Oram, argued that his client didn’t know what was in the coffee cup and that his mere presence at the Luxor did not prove he knew about the bomb.

Oram suggested to the jury that Duarte-Herrera enjoyed making the bomb and having it blow up. Rueda-Denvers’ attorneys wanted to paint Duarte-Herrera as a “serial bomber” because of the other alleged bombing incidents, but that evidence wasn’t allowed to be presented by District Judge Michael Villani.

The judge had ruled those incidents had no bearing on the Luxor incident. Oram has said Rueda-Denvers could not receive a fair trial because of the ruling.

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