Friday, March 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
The plea will allow Joseph Ewish, 38, to be released from prison in about seven years.
He drove two others to a home in 1990 where a Molotov cocktail was thrown inside. The explosion killed Jimmy Lopez, 47, and his 15-year-old son, Eppie.
Mitchell Nelson, then 17, was charged with actually throwing the explosive, but was acquitted. Timothy Webb, then 19, was convicted of murder and arson. Police said he threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of another Las Vegas family shortly after the Lopez bombing.
Witnesses said the slayings were the result of a dispute over a small amount of marijuana.
Ewish's lawyer, Patricia Erickson, argued that her client was borderline mentally retarded and could neither assist in his own defense nor be held culpable for his actions.
Last year the Nevada Supreme Court dismissed Ewish's arson counts because jurors were not told they could consider convicting him of a lesser offense, Ms. Erickson said.
After that ruling, Ms. Erickson filed for a new trial on grounds he was inappropriately convicted under Nevada's felony murder rule.
That rule allows for a verdict of first-degree murder - even if the defendant didn't actually commit the murder - if the death occurred during the commission of another felony.
Because the felony arson conviction was thrown out, the murder conviction became invalid, Ms. Erickson said.
Ewish has already served about six years in prison. District Judge Jeffrey Sobel originally sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years. Under the terms of the plea agreement, he will be eligible for parole after having served 13 years.
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