For the first time in years, a Las Vegas jury has sentenced a man to death

This month, a jury sentenced a 54-year-old man to death for a 2012 murder — the first death penalty sentence a jury in Nevada has handed down in more than five years.

The jury found Robert Brown guilty of murdering his girlfriend, 29-year-old Nichole Nick, after breaking into her apartment, attacking her, shooting and injuring her mother and shooting toward a 3-year-old girl in the apartment. Brown and Nick were arguing just hours before, according to court transcripts.

It took about two hours for a jury to deliberate and sentence Brown to death on Oct. 9, said Lance Maningo, one of the defense attorneys representing Brown.

The case had received little media attention after Brown’s arrest in 2014. Attorneys said that in today’s age, when juries are less likely to deliver death sentences, it was surprising that Brown was sentenced to die.

“We were shocked, shocked and disappointed,” Maningo said.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Brown’s violent criminal history helped distinguish this case.

“This is not a case where I would have thought that the death penalty would have been returned as compared to so many other cases,” Wolfson said when asked if he was surprised by the verdict. “There are some cases — the triple murders, the double murders of children — that you can see where a jury would come back death more easily than others … but it all depends on the makeup of the 12 people.”

Arguments for Brown’s punishment

During the penalty phase of the trial, when prosecutors argued for Brown to be sentenced to death, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jay Raman emphasized Brown’s criminal history and violence toward women. He served nine years in prison for a 1998 carjacking conviction, in which he forced himself into his ex-wife’s car and slashed at her arms, neck and face with a box cutter. Raman also pointed to a fight Brown got into while he was in custody at the Clark County Detention Center, when Brown started punching someone who didn’t fight back, according to court transcripts

Raman argued that Brown attempted to disguise himself with a mask and gloves when he killed Nick, and he then fled Las Vegas and avoided arrest for two years.

“Sometimes, the hardest thing is the right thing,” Raman told the jury during his closing arguments. “Choosing life is the easy and safe choice here. With the knowledge you have now, have the strength to give him the right penalty. The death penalty.”

Meanwhile, defense attorneys argued that Brown had been treated for mental illness while incarcerated and had multiple suicide attempts, according to court transcripts. Maningo argued that Brown grew up witnessing his father abuse his mother, and that Brown was sexually abused during his childhood.

He pushed for Brown to be sentenced to life in prison, where he would be in a cell for 23 hours a day.

“Why would I be asking you to give Robert Brown life in prison?” Maningo said to the jury. “It’s simple. His life matters because all life has value. … We’re talking about the punishment, and nothing I say to you diminishes Nichole Nick. She was a beautiful young woman that didn’t deserve to die. But an eye for an eye is not the answer.”

Wolfson said that if Brown’s case was presented to him today, he would still seek the death penalty.

Scott Coffee, a defense attorney who represents murder defendants and who tracks capital punishment, said he would expect to see a capital punishment verdict in cases of multiple homicide victims, or if the crime were especially sadistic or planned out.

“Somebody is dead. All homicides are bad,” Coffee said. “But the system takes upon itself to identify those that are particularly egregious, that are such an outlier that someone has to lose their life. … What was so different about this case?”

‘Wasn’t willing to plead guilty’

Brown maintained his innocence and fired several court-appointed attorneys in the 10 years it took his case to reach trial, court records show. Defense attorneys argued that there was little forensic evidence tying Brown to the scene of the crime, although Nick’s mother, Esther Maestas, identified Brown as the man who shot her.

The jury convicted Brown of home invasion with a deadly weapon; burglary with a deadly weapon; murder with a deadly weapon; two counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon; eight counts of discharging a firearm within a structure; child abuse, neglect or endangerment with a deadly weapon; and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Brown asked the judge if he could stay in his cell at the jail during the penalty phase of the trial. District Judge Jacqueline Bluth questioned Brown about his decision but ultimately allowed the request, court records show.

Maningo said Brown didn’t want to be in the room because he was “broken” and distraught after the guilty verdict. That may have factored into the penalty deliberations.

“I think that the jury really was disturbed by the fact that he wasn’t present,” Maningo said.

Wolfson said that earlier in Brown’s case, he met with one of his defense attorneys who asked for the death penalty to be taken off the table, but Wolfson declined.

“His client wasn’t willing to plead guilty,” Wolfson said. “We don’t just take it off without exchanging something for it.”

Wolfson denied using the death penalty as a negotiating tool, but said that he is willing to stop pursuing capital punishment in some cases if the defense brings him mitigating evidence before trial.

In recent years, Wolfson has said he has been more selective and has filed for the death penalty in fewer cases. Clark County currently has more than 4o pending death penalty cases, he said.

Juries are also becoming less willing to sentence someone to death, he said.

“I’m fully aware that Clark County residents still favor the death penalty, but by a small margin,” Wolfson said.

‘The largest lever in the tool box’

The most recent person to be sentenced to death in Nevada was Tracy Petrocelli, who was sentenced to die for a second time by a Reno jury in his renewed 2019 sentencing hearing. His death sentence was again overturned by the Nevada Supreme Court in 2021.

It’s been even longer since a Clark County jury has sentenced someone to die. In 2017, Thomas Randolph was sent to death row in the slaying of his wife and the hitman he hired to kill her. His conviction was overturned by the Nevada Supreme Court, and prosecutors withdrew the death penalty during his second trial last year because of Randolph’s age, according to court records. He is now serving a life sentence.

The appeal process in death penalty cases can last years or decades. Nevada’s supply of lethal injection drugs expired in 2022, before officials could obtain a warrant for the intended execution of Zane Floyd. There are dozens of convicted killers on Nevada’s death row, and it is unclear if the state will ever be able to go forward with executing Brown.

Nevada has not executed anyone since 2006. The last prisoner to waive his appeals, Scott Dozier, died by suicide in prison before he was executed.

Coffee said there is a “randomness” to which defendants facing capital punishment will ultimately be sentenced to die. It depends on how successful the defense is at finding mitigating factors such as evidence of severe mental illness, the mindset of a jury, and who is willing to negotiate with prosecutors — especially defendants who maintain their innocence.

“If you want to talk about the largest lever in the tool box for the state, it’s capital punishment,” Coffee said. “What could be more frightening than telling a defendant, ‘I know you may have a defense, but if the jury doesn’t believe it, they will execute you’?”

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.