North Las Vegas couple to face death penalty in boy’s death

Prosecutors said Tuesday that they would seek the death penalty for a North Las Vegas couple charged in the death of a 2-year-old boy.

Doctors and nurses told authorities that Jackson James Newman, or JJ, as his family called him, was dead by the time he arrived at University Medical Center on Feb. 5, and that his was one of the worst cases of malnourishment they had seen, according to North Las Vegas police.

The boy’s father, Chad Newman, and his girlfriend, Haydee Razo, each face murder, child abuse and conspiracy charges.

The Clark County coroner’s office ruled the boy’s death a homicide due to blunt force injuries, with neglect of care as another significant contributing condition.

Newman called 911 that morning when his son stopped breathing in their trailer at 2905 Las Vegas Blvd. North, near North Pecos Road, the report said. Fire crews would later tell a North Las Vegas detective that the boy looked “extremely malnourished,” with his eyes and temples sunken in and “super skinny” legs and arms.

JJ lacked body fat — so much so that the detective compared him to a skeleton — and had bruises on his head and small cuts on his body.

The boy’s great-grandmother, Jan Mannino, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal this year that Newman was dating Razo, but she was not JJ’s mother.

Mannino, 80, said bruises, head injuries and other injuries to JJ’s body were found during his autopsy. The coroner’s office also told the family that he had methamphetamine in his bloodstream and had suffered from pneumonia, Mannino said.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.