Ex-con held in double-slaying gets public defenders

A federal and state ex-convict accused of killing two people last month southeast of downtown Las Vegas will be represented in court by public defense attorneys.

A judge scheduled a Jan. 25 preliminary hearing and named the Clark County special public defender's office to represent 36-year-old Marcial Manuel Casarez.

Defense attorney David Schieck said Casarez will plead not guilty.

He's being held at the Clark County jail following his arrest last week on murder charges in the Nov. 16 slayings of 32-year-old Jamel Colbert and 21-year-old Shelby Taylor Robinson.

A police report says the slayings stemmed from a dispute among several people involved in drugs and prostitution.

A witness tells police Casarez shot Colbert and Robinson multiple times in a vehicle in an alley off Fremont Street near Charleston Boulevard.