IN BRIEF

20-year-old sentenced in 2004 slaying

A 20-year-old man convicted of first-degree murder was sentenced to 40 years to life Tuesday in District Court.

Branden Tabile was convicted in February of fatally shooting 50-year-old James Greene of Las Vegas on May 4, 2004.

Tabile confessed to police in a taped interview played for the jury that he went out to rob someone that night. He said he waited in a trash bin in the parking lot of Greene’s condominium complex, near Spring Mountain Road and Valley View Boulevard, for someone to pass.

He accosted Greene and took him at gunpoint to Greene’s condo to get money. When Greene slammed the front door in his face, Tabile, who was 17 at the time, fired several shots into the door and left. Tabile said he never meant to pull the trigger or to kill anyone.

Greene was found dead in his apartment three days later with a single bullet wound in his chest and a cell phone in his hand.

Tabile’s lawyer, Robert Langford, said an appeal will be filed.

CLICK IT OR TICKET

Crackdown set on seat belt, child restraints

Area law enforcement officers will begin their annual Click It or Ticket campaign Monday to raise safety belt awareness.

During the campaign, officers will intensify their enforcement of seat belt and child passenger safety laws, according to Nevada Department of Public Safety officials.

In 2006, 70 people died in Nevada in fatal crashes because they did not buckle up, according to officials. Statistics suggests people are four times more likely to die in a crash if they are not wearing seat belts, officials said. People between the ages of 18 and 34 use restraints the least, authorities said.

The law enforcement wave of the campaign will last two weeks, from Monday through June 3. The law enforcement effort will be supported by more than $26 million in national and state advertising.

TAX CHARGES IN NEVADA

Florida wants founder of ‘Girls Gone Wild’

Florida prosecutors fought to keep the “Girls Gone Wild” video series founder in the state Tuesday, a day after federal marshals prepared to transport him to Nevada.

Joe Francis completed a 35-day federal contempt of court sentence this week related to a lawsuit against him by underage girls his company filmed in 2003 on Panama City Beach. Federal officials want him to next face federal tax evasion charges in Reno.

But Florida prosecutors want to try Francis, 34, who makes an estimated $29 million a year on videos of young women baring their breasts, on criminal charges related to the filming of the girls who sued.

A spokesman for the state attorney said federal marshals had taken Francis from the Bay County jail in Panama City to Jackson County near the Georgia-Alabama border.

A U.S. Marshals spokesman said Francis was in federal custody, “a first step” in transporting Francis to Nevada.