Prosecutors Pursue Death Penalty Against Nathaniel Burkett in Nevada Cold Case Slayings

[Heidi]

A white-haired ex-convict from Mississippi described by police as a serial killer pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Las Vegas to murder and sex assault charges in the cold case slayings of three women 16 years apart.

Nathaniel Burkett remained in a wheelchair during his brief appearance before a judge who took his plea and set Burkett's next court appearance for Jan. 7. A state court judge is expected at that time to set a trial date.

Burkett, who has used several dates of birth that would put him in his 60s, is accused of killing 22-year-old Barbara Ann Cox in April 1978 and 27-year-old Tina Gayle Mitchell and 32-year-old Althea Maria Williams in separate slayings in 1994. Police say each woman was sexually assaulted, strangled and left dead in a neighborhood near where Burkett lived at the time.

DNA genetic material collected from the bodies of Cox and Mitchell and stored for decades in evidence vaults linked Burkett to the crimes, according to police reports. The cold cases were revisited with funding from a federal grant.

Prosecutors have argued that the slaying of Williams, who lived in Los Angeles, was similar enough to Mitchell's to prove they were committed by the same person.

Burkett's public defender, David Schieck, said outside court Wednesday that he plans to challenge the statute of limitations on a felony sexual assault charge lodged against Burkett in the Mitchell case.

Mitchell's mother, Diane Stamps, 63, said she wants closure to her daughter's slaying after almost 18 years.

"I just want it to be really, really over," she said.

A panel of Clark County district attorney prosecutors is expected to decide in coming weeks whether Burkett will face the death penalty in the three cases.

Burkett has two previous manslaughter convictions, including one in Mississippi that put him in prison from 1983 to 1992 in the death of his mother.

He served from 2004 to 2009 in Nevada prisons on a manslaughter conviction in the September 2002 strangulation of a 41-year-old woman in Las Vegas.

Burkett was living with his sister in Mississippi before his arrest and extradition in August to Las Vegas.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...Slayings-Vegas

[Heidi]

Barbara Ann Cox (Photo: Cox family, 8 News Now)

Tina Gayle Mitchell

[Heidi]

Nathaniel Burkett's Arrest Record

- Murder and first degree kidnap; October 2003.
- Battery domestic violence with no prior conviction; December 2002.
- Contempt of court and battery domestic violence, three counts; July 2000.
- Ex-felon failure to change address; March 1998 and August 1997.
- Sexual Assault; July 1996.
- Battery; January 1994.
- Disorderly conduct; March 1979.
- Battery with a deadly weapon; February 1979.
- Battery, kidnap and rape; August 1978.
- Robbery; June 1978.
- Protective custody – drunk in public; September 1977.
- Drunk in public; December 1976.
- Trespassing; July 1976.

And that’s not all. Burkett was convicted of killing his own mother in 1982.

He was also convicted of voluntary manslaughter in Las Vegas for the strangulation death of 41-year-old Valetter Jean Bousley in 2002 and served 6 years in prison. (Burkett’s October 2003 arrest for murder and first-degree kidnapping was for killing Bousley)

Read more: http://www.lasvegasworldnews.com/pos...#ixzz2GCr73Dbh

[Jeffects]

Makes you wonder how this guy was even allowed out of prison, several times.

[Heidi]

Serial killer suspect Burkett to face death penalty

Clark County prosecutors will seek capital punishment for a 63-year-old Mississippi man charged with killing three women in Las Vegas between 1978 and 1994, the district attorney's death penalty committee decided Thursday.

Serial killer suspect Nathan Burkett was linked through DNA and other evidence to the deaths of 22-year-old Barbara Ann Cox on April 22, 1978; 27-year-old Tina Gayle Mitchell on Feb. 20, 1994; and a Los Angeles woman, Althea Williams, also in 1994.

The death penalty committee, whose meetings are not open to the public, chose not to seek capital punishment for four defendants in two other murder cases, including the case against Las Vegas firefighter George Tiaffay and the homeless man police said he hired for $600 to kill his estranged wife.

The committee looks at three factors when considering capital punishment: whether there are aggravating factors in the case, whether a jury would impose the death penalty as punishment and whether a conviction would stand up under appeal.

Burkett has twice been convicted of manslaughter in the slayings of two women, including his mother.

Prosecutors have argued that all three women in Las Vegas died by strangulation and were found close to Burkett's apartment. Burkett even "discovered" Cox's body, they said.

Police have connected Burkett to Cox and Mitchell by DNA.

Tiaffay, 41, and Noel "Greyhound" Stevens, 37, were indicted last month with several counts, including murder with use of a deadly weapon and conspiracy.

The two defendants were arrested in October in the Sept. 29 slaying of Shauna Tiaffay, 46, a Palms cocktail waitress whose body was found in her Summerlin home.

Stevens testified to the grand jury that he was hired by Tiaffay and that he hit the victim in the head 17 times with a hammer.

A trial date has not been set in the case.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/serial-kill...185634691.html

[Unsub]

Not that i dont think this guy is a bad guy, but going for the dp here seems like throwing a bunch of money away. The chances of this guy ever being executed are about the same as me winning the lottery.

Edit: Oh my i am a senior member now. Thanks Heidi

[Jan240]

Miss. man faces death penalty for cold case murders in Las Vegas

A judge on Monday set a March 2014 trial date for an aging ex-convict from Mississippi who police describe as a serial killer responsible for the cold case slayings of three women in Las Vegas.

From a wheelchair, Nathaniel Burkett agreed to the distant trial date after his lawyers and a prosecutor told Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Smith they'll need time to prepare for the death penalty trial relying on DNA evidence from 1978 and 1994.

Burkett, who has used several dates of birth that would put him in his 60s, is being held without bail at Clark County jail.

Defense attorney David Schieck told the judge he intends to challenge the DNA test results.

Schieck has said he also intends to seek dismissal of a felony sex assault charge stemming from a 1994 case involving Tina Gayle Mitchell, who was then 27. The defense attorney calls the case too old to prosecute.

Burkett has pleaded not guilty to killing 22-year-old Barbara Ann Cox in April 1978, and to killing Mitchell and 32-year-old Althea Maria Williams in separate slayings in 1994.

Police say each woman was sexually assaulted, strangled and left dead near the West Las Vegas neighborhood where Burkett lived at the time.

Burkett has two previous manslaughter convictions, including one in the death of his mother in Mississippi that put him in prison from 1983 to 1992.

Prosecutors allege that Cox was killed in Las Vegas before Burkett — then in his late 20s or early 30s — returned to Mississippi.

After prison in Mississippi, Burkett returned to Nevada, where he was convicted of manslaughter in the September 2002 strangulation of a 41-year-old woman in Las Vegas. He served time in state prison from 2004 to 2009.

Burkett was living with his sister in Mississippi before his latest arrest and extradition in August to Las Vegas.

http://www.clarionledger.com/viewart...ders-Las-Vegas