Man receives life sentence again in fatal bombing on Las Vegas Strip

A Las Vegas judge on Wednesday once again sentenced a 46-year-old man to life in prison for a 2007 fatal bombing atop the Luxor parking garage.

Jurors found Omar Rueda-Denvers guilty of murder, attempted murder, possession of an explosive or incendiary device, and transportation or receipt of explosives during a September retrial of the case.

Rueda-Denvers was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole for the first time in 2010, alongside his friend and co-defendant, Porfirio Duarte-Herrera, court records show.

District Judge Michael Villani ordered the same sentence during a Wednesday court hearing.

“Obviously, this was a very serious crime. It was sophisticated and planned out,” Villani said. “There was an extreme danger to patrons at the hotel.”

Prosecutors have said Rueda- Denvers conspired to build a metal pipe bomb to kill his ex-girlfriend and her new lover, Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio.

The 27-year-old died in the explosion when he unwittingly picked up the bomb atop his car after his shift at Luxor. Caren Chali, the mother of Rueda-Denvers’ then-3-year-old daughter, was unhurt in the blast.

The killing initially stoked fears of a possible terrorist attack on the Strip, until investigators zeroed in on the two suspects. Prosecutors initially sought the death penalty in the case.

In 2019, a federal judge granted Rueda-Denvers a new trial, ruling that he was unable to cross-examine his co-defendant, whose incriminating statements to police were presented to the jury.

During the September retrial, prosecutors described Rueda- Denvers as a jealous ex-lover obsessed with Chali. Defense attorney Christopher Oram, who also represented Rueda- Denvers during the first trial, said the man followed Chali because she was keeping his daughter away from him.

Prosecutor Christopher Hamner on Wednesday said he did not believe the second trial brought forth any evidence that would “warrant lowering the original sentence.”

“It would be almost absurd that his friend, who prepared the bomb at his request, would end up spending the rest of his life without the possibility of parole, while he himself would then get the opportunity, potentially, to see the light of day,” Hamner said.

Oram argued that Duarte-Herrera was a “serial bomber” who was convicted in a Halloween 2006 bombing that destroyed a parked pickup outside a Home Depot. He said that even if Rueda-Denvers were granted the possibility of parole, he probably would spend the rest of his life in prison.

“But it would give him incentive to continue trying to be a productive member of the prison society,” the attorney said.

Oram has said he plans to appeal the verdict from Rueda-Denvers’ second trial.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.

This story previously included photos of a man who was incorrectly identified as Omar Rueda-Denvers.