LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Anthony Newton allegedly strangled, dismembered and dumped his sufferer’s physique in a vacant lot earlier than setting it on fireplace and strolling away, Clark County prosecutors informed a jury on the primary day of a retrial of a demise penalty homicide case.
In opening statements Monday, attorneys gave conflicting variations of the occasions of the Christmas 2016 homicide of Ulisys ‘Cesar’ Molina. Molina was discovered on Dolly Lane close to E. Lake Mead and N. Lamb boulevards in early 2017 after his household stated he was absent over the vacations. Prosecutors tried Newton in November 2024 however the decide, Jacqueline Bluth, declared a mistrial through the first day of testimony as a result of one in every of Newton’s co-defendants improperly alerted the jury to a sure time Newton spent in jail.
“So please, under no circumstances does that word come out of your mouth,” Bluth informed the primary few jurors who testified Monday, cautioning them to not confer with Newton’s jail time.
Throughout that point in jail, prosecutors say, Molina slept with Newton’s then-wife. They are saying Newton and his brother-in-law, George Malaperdas killed Molina with the assistance of Kelsea Glass. Malaperdas awaits sentencing on fees of homicide, theft, and kidnapping. Courtroom information point out a sentencing date of February 11. Glass, whose testimony in November triggered the mistrial, additionally awaits sentencing on the identical day for her function within the homicide. Prosecutors say Glass lured Molina to her condo, the place Newton and Malaperdas had been ready for him.
“In the summer of 2015 Jami Malaperdas, the defendant’s wife, ends up having a romantic affair with Cesar Molina, the victim in the case,” Pam Weckerly, a chief deputy public defender in Clark County, stated Monday. “And this relationship is known by people in Mr. Molina’s family and it’s not exactly a secret.”
However Newton’s attorneys say the police rushed to the conclusion that Newton, 45, is Molina’s killer and selectively selected proof that match their principle. Josh Tomsheck, who delivered the protection’s opening assertion, stated the state’s witnesses have cause to lie.
“I’m going to ask you why they are saying the things that they say,” Tomsheck stated. “The why in this case is going to tell you the truth about what really happened.”
Protection attorneys and prosecutors agreed on one set of info surrounding the invention of one in every of Molina’s arms, which had been severed on the time of his homicide. In April 2018, whereas Newton was in custody at Clark County Detention Heart, a lady in Henderson despatched her 5-year-old little one to test the mail and located a human hand within the mailbox. Police in the end decided it was Molina’s, however discovered no different leads, prosecutors stated.
“So as we sit here now, we will not be able to answer for you how that hand ended up getting into that lady’s mailbox a year later,” Weckerly stated.
“Anthony Newton could have had nothing to do with that hand,” Tomsheck stated. “He was nowhere near it. It was two towns away and he wasn’t in a place where he could get it. Things, ladies and gentlemen, are not always as they seem.”
Courtroom information point out Newton’s trial may final three weeks. If the jury – at the moment comprised of 14 individuals earlier than it’s pared right down to 12 with two alternates – finds Newton responsible, Bluth will preside over a separate penalty part of the trial throughout which the jury will resolve whether or not to condemn Newton to demise.
Author : LasVegasNews
Publish date : 2025-01-14 03:51:09
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