Jury convicts Las Vegas man of murder in October shooting death
A 32-year-old Las Vegas man was convicted of first-degree murder Friday for fatally shooting a man inside a vacant northeast valley home.
A week after the killing, a woman who witnessed the Oct. 23 shooting of her friend, 35-year-old Daniel Contreras, was kidnapped for nearly 24 hours, beaten and sexually assaulted, the woman testified.
She told jurors that when she saw Kurtis Richards, the gunman, in a trailer where she was held captive, he said, “I might have to keep you.”
A jury took less than two hours to find Richards guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon.
The woman and Contreras had gone to a house to smoke methamphetamine, according to Richards’ arrest report. Richards arrived at the house, pulled out a handgun and demanded “the stuff,” the report said.
Contreras and Richards struggled as the woman ran outside. That’s when she said she heard three gunshots and “started crying.”
Another witness also identified Richards as the shooter, prosecutors said. Defense attorney Roy Nelson argued that prosecutors focused on the kidnapping and had not proved that Richards killed Contreras.
A week after the shooting at the home on the 5800 block of East Carey Avenue, the witness learned that Contreras was dead. She decided to move home and tell her mother what happened, she testified.
The day she was supposed to meet her mother, the witness said, she was approached by a drug dealer who asked if she wanted to get high one last time.
They drove with another woman to a trailer, where the witness was attacked and forced to perform a sex act.
Ultimately, the witness was released and was told by her abductors not to talk to police.
While Richards was not charged in the kidnapping, three others have pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the incident and are awaiting sentencing.
Richards, who prosecutors said has a list of criminal convictions dating back to 2005, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.
