Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Trial reset in casino dealer slaying, slashing case

Brenda Stokes Hearing

Leila Navidi

Brenda Stokes appears in Las Vegas Justice Court for a hearing at the Regional Justice Center on Friday, December 28, 2012.

Updated Monday, April 13, 2015 | 5 p.m.

A death penalty trial has been postponed to next year for a former Las Vegas blackjack dealer accused of kidnapping and fatally stabbing her ex-boyfriend's daughter and slashing the face of a Strip casino co-worker in a jealous rage.

Brenda Stokes Wilson's trial had been scheduled for next week, but Clark County District Court Judge Kathleen Delaney recently moved it to February 2016.

Delaney said the postponement would give Stokes Wilson's public defender, David Schieck, time to prepare. Schieck wasn't immediately available Monday for comment.

Stokes Wilson, 52, pleaded not guilty in March 2013 to abducting and killing 10-year-old Jade Morris, and then attacking former friend and co-worker Joyce Rhone with a straight razor at the Bellagio casino.

Stokes Wilson was a former girlfriend of the child's father, Philip Morris, and a friend to Jade.

Police and family members think the attacks in December 2012 were motivated by Stokes Wilson's mistaken belief that the girl's father had begun dating Rhone.

Stokes Wilson has been held at the Clark County jail since her arrest at the Bellagio.

Jade Morris' body was found in an abandoned housing development about 10 miles from a downtown Las Vegas outlet mall where Stokes Wilson was to have taken the girl Christmas shopping.

Stokes Wilson is accused of first-degree kidnapping and murder with a deadly weapon in the girl's death. She faces attempted murder, battery with a deadly weapon with substantial bodily harm and mayhem with a deadly weapon in the attack on Rhone.

Stokes Wilson also is charged with burglary for allegedly entering the Bellagio with intent to commit a felony.

Rhone was hospitalized with deep cuts on her face. She filed a civil negligence lawsuit in 2013 in Nevada state court seeking damages from the Bellagio for her injuries. The case is pending before the Nevada Supreme Court.

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