Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Lisle given 2nd death sentence

Kevin Lisle was given the death penalty today for the second time -- this one for the slaying of the teenage son of a former North Las Vegas Police chief.

But the jury in District Judge Sally Loehrer's courtroom did not believe the death penalty was appropriate for Lisle's co-defendant, 26-year-old Jerry Lopez.

Lopez was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years for his lesser role in luring Justin Lusch, 19, to a lonely road in northwest Las Vegas in August 1994 where he was executed.

Lopez dropped his head in relief at the announcement of the decision and sighs came from his family.

Lisle, 25, showed no emotion at his second death sentence. He sat slumped in his chair at the defense table as he had done throughout the trial.

The victim's father, Ron Lusch, who had sat in court throughout the trial and penalty hearing, was subdued after today's hearing, saying the jury's decision was "another chapter in the book on the healing process."

"We don't revel in the conviction or the sentence," he said. "But we are relieved they won't be someplace where they can harm others."

He didn't say he was disappointed with the lightest possible sentence for Lopez, admitting that the jury was "confronted with a very difficult situation."

Witnesses at the trial testified that Lisle admitted pulling the trigger while Lopez watched in the rear-view mirror of the car he was driving. The pair had believed Lusch was a "snitch" who owed them money for drugs.

Justin Lusch had been involved with Lisle, Lopez and a group of other young adults who were living on their own to a great extent -- often at the unsupervised home of one teenager -- and using marijuana and methamphetamine.

Trial testimony indicated that Lusch may have obtained some methamphetamine from Lisle and Lopez to resell to others, but the money was never given to the defendants.

Lisle already has been given the death penalty in the October 1994 murder of Kip Logan, a former Bishop Gorman High School student who was gunned down on the U.S. 95 Expressway after a traffic altercation.

Two teenagers riding with Lisle testified at an earlier trial that Lisle fired a single shot with a .357 Magnum pistol from their van and hit Logan in the head.

Although Lisle's attorneys in that case contended the shot actually was fired by one of the teens, Lisle was convicted and given the death penalty.

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