State Supreme Court rejects appeals of Clark County killers

By Cy Ryan

Friday, April 10, 2009 | 1:52 p.m.

CARSON CITY – Two men sentenced to life in prison without parole for separate killings in Clark County have lost their appeals to the Nevada Supreme Court.

The court denied the petition of John E. Stark, who maintained he was innocent of the killing of Rory Sharp in 1992, despite the fact he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

Also rejected was the appeal of Theodore Stevens, found guilty in the beating death of his girlfriend’s 5-month old daughter, Russia Davis, in Primm in March 2005.

Stark, now 35, said he provided affidavits from two of his co-defendants, William Rohweder and Brian DeBarr, that Stark was not present during the killing.

But District Judge Lee Gates, at a hearing last year, found Stark and his co-defendants were angry at the victim because of his drug use and his assault on co-defendant Crystal Reichenburg.

Sharp was taken to the desert, hit over the head with a crowbar multiple times and then shot in the head.

The Supreme Court, in upholding Judge Gates, said the claim of Stark that he was innocent “lacked merit.” Before the killing, Stark and his co-defendants talked about what to do with Sharp and Stark suggested Sharp be taken into the desert and murdered.

Stevens said his conviction should be overturned on grounds a statement he made to Officer Jeffrey Hodgkinson should have been suppressed at his trial.

Stevens admitted to killing the child.

The Supreme Court said that incriminating statements made by a suspect during a custodial questioning should be suppressed until a person was given the right to call an attorney.

The court said, “We first conclude that Stevens’ statements to Officer Hodgkinson were volunteered” and did not come under questioning before Stevens was advised of his right to a lawyer. And it upheld the decision of District Judge Donald Mosley in denying the petition of Stevens.

The court also rejected the appeal of Charles W. Brewington, who pleaded guilty in 1996 to second-degree murder in Clark County in the beating death of his grandmother, Verna Wright.

Brewington, now 33, sought to withdraw his guilty plea. The court upheld District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, who rejected the petition of Brewington, filed 12 years after he pleaded guilty.

Brewington is confined at the Ely State Prison, Stark is confined to the Nevada State Prison in Carson City and Stevens is at the Lovelock Correctional Center.