Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Death penalty dealt in killing of sergeant

Wilbert Leslie, whom a jury convicted of gunning down a Nellis Air Force Base sergeant moonlighting as a convenience store clerk, has been given the death penalty.

Deputy District Attorney David Roger had told the jury that Leslie's "future should end in an execution chamber."

After deliberating three hours Wednesday, the jury agreed on the ultimate punishment.

The victim's widow, Linda Prewitt, thanked prosecutors after the verdict but lamented that a resolution to the case took nearly two years.

It was on Aug. 9, 1994, that Sgt. William Prewitt was shot to death by the then-19-year-old bandit, who was captured on a security videotape taking the money from the cooperative victim but then firing a fatal bullet into his chest.

Although the graphic video recorded the slaying, the quality was not good enough to prove that Leslie was the killer.

But Leslie's girlfriend, Rhesa Gamble, filled in the gaps when she admitted during her testimony that she had driven the defendant to the 7-Eleven store at 3589 N. Nellis Blvd.

The 20-year-old woman told the jury in District Judge Stephen Huffaker's courtroom that Leslie had instructed her to drive around the block and then pick him up.

When he climbed into the car, Gamble said he blurted out, "I killed him. I killed him. He wouldn't give me the money."

A tip to Secret Witness led police to Gamble and Leslie. A search of Gamble's car revealed the murder weapon.

Linda Prewitt, told the jury that the sergeant took the job at the convenience store to build a nest egg for his retirement from the Air Force 11 months later.

While Gamble was not charged in the murder, she did plead guilty to a perjury charge for her false testimony at an early preliminary hearing in the slaying.

She will be sentenced later this month and is expected to get probation because of her testimony against Leslie.

Although she linked Leslie to the murder weapon, defense attorneys told the jury that there is no physical evidence connecting the defendant to the crime.

archive