Judge brings murder, attempted murder cases together

By Cara McCoy

Thursday, April 1, 2010 | 4:10 p.m.

British-born Michael Lane, 37, is facing a slew of serious charges in Clark County District Court. The self-described new-age healer and motivational speaker is accused of murdering a Las Vegas woman and police say that while her body decomposed in a trash can in her garage, Lane used the dead woman’s car to try to run over a transsexual he solicited on Craigslist for sex.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against him.

After a ruling Thursday by a district court judge, the two cases against him – the murder case and the attempted murder case – became consolidated into one. That means that when the case is heard by a jury, the panel will hear evidence in both cases.

They will learn about the murder of Ginger Candela, 44, whose severed body was found in a bleach- and cement-filled trash can in her garage in November. They will also hear evidence against Lane in the attempted murder of a transsexual authorities allege Lane solicited after Candela was killed, but before her body was found.

Lane is facing charges of murder and robbery in connection with Candela’s death, as well as counts of attempted murder and battery resulting in substantial bodily harm in connection with the alleged attack on the transsexual.

Prosecutors moved to combine the cases in February. They said the cases were so closely linked they couldn’t be tried separately because the facts of one case would bleed into the other. Lane’s attorneys had argued against combining the two cases, saying that the jury would be overly prejudiced.

District Court Judge James Bixler issued his ruling Thursday after taking several weeks to review evidence. He said from the bench that reaching the decision wasn’t easy, but he was confident the consolidation was “on firm ground.”

Dan Silverstein, who represents Lane, said the consolidation would be an issue to address on appeal after the case is concluded.

When arguing against combining the cases at a hearing earlier this month, Silverstein said the state wanted to merge the cases so they could show jurors Lane was prone to violent behavior. If prosecutors could illustrate Lane was violent, jurors might be prejudiced to convict even if the evidence wasn’t strong, he said.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Robert Daskas said trying the cases separately would have been impossible.

“The cases are inextricably intertwined. They cannot be unraveled and attempting to do so would have been futile,” he said after Thursday’s hearing. “That’s essentially what we put in our pleadings and we’re grateful the court agreed.”

If jurors come back with a guilty verdict against Lane in Candela’s murder, they will then decide if he should face the death penalty. In Nevada, juries determine the punishment in capital cases after weighing all aggravating and mitigating factors in a second set of deliberations.

If he’s found guilty of the attack on the transsexual, it will be one of the aggravating circumstances prosecutors present.

Lane was arrested in December. Police picked him up on the attempted murder warrant at a motel in Ventura, Calif. When he was interviewed by Metro Police detectives, prosecutors said he confessed to both crimes.

The Clark County Coroner’s Office said Candela died from strangulation, with blunt head trauma as a significant contributing factor.

Detectives found her body cut in half and stuffed into a trash can filled with bleach. Authorities said they believe she died about two weeks before she was found.

Lane told police the two were meditating in her bedroom when he decided to kill her, which he did by stringing her up from her bed using an electric cord after striking her with a frying pan, according to court records.

Lane met Candela at a book signing in October 2009 in Anaheim, Calif., and moved into Candela’s home in the 3100 block of Westfield Street shortly thereafter to be her “life coach,” according to documents filed by prosecutors.

Authorities say that on Nov. 24, when Lane allegedly solicited the transsexual for sex on Craigslist, Candela had already been dead for several days. Police said that as Lane was driving the transsexual home after being intimate, an argument ensued and he allegedly tried to run her over with Candela’s SUV.

At the time Candela’s body was found, a warrant already had been issued in connection with the alleged vehicle attack.

Lane was found to be in possession of Candela’s SUV and some of her personal property when he was arrested, police said.

Lane’s case is set to go to trial in January 2011. He is being held without bail in the Clark County Detention Center.