Wednesday, Dec. 2, 1998 | 11:30 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Peggy Wham, who hired a hitman to kill her husband in Las Vegas in 1983, is being freed from prison, because her death from cancer is said to be imminent. She was serving a life sentence without possibility of parole.
Wham broke into tears of joy and hugged her lawyer Oscar Goodman Tuesday when the state Pardons Board unanimously granted her request to be released after serving 15 years, nine months. Goodman told the board she doesn't have long to live because of the advanced stages of the illness.
The board also approved the petitions of two other inmates convicted of murder and denied petitions of two more.
Goodman, arguing for Wham's freedom, said it would be an act of cruelty for the board to wait any longer to free Wham, 56.
Wham was convicted of hiring John Snow for several thousand dollars to kill her husband, nightclub owner Harry Wham. Wham was shot to death in February 1983. Joseph Parker, described by prosecutors as Peggy's lover, and his brother John D. Parker received life terms with the possibility of parole.
Snow is still on death row. The Parker brothers are still in prison, said Christopher Laurent, chief deputy district attorney in Clark County. Wham's daughter Kathy Faltinowksi, described by prosecutors as John Parker's girlfriend, received a life term and was paroled in 1986.
Goodman argued Wham should receive immediate release from the women's prison in North Las Vegas on "humanitarian grounds." He said she "makes no excuses for what she did." But the issue before the pardons board was her deteriorating condition.
She has had her stomach and pancreas removed. Her esophagus is now attached to her colon, he said. Pain killers are ineffective. She cannot hold down food and must be fed six times a day. Goodman said doctors have given no estimate on how long Wham will live.
Once freed, Wham will be taken in by Louis Lazaroff, a retired casino worker who paid $13,000 toward her defense in her first trial. Goodman said he would like to get Wham in a hospice "so when she expires, she expires with some dignity."
Gov. Bob Miller, the chairman of the board, inquired whether Lazaroff will take care her medical bills. Goodman said the bills will be paid by Medicaid and Lazaroff.
The board also granted clemency to Gary Krueger, sentenced to life without parole for the murder of Jane King in March 1975 in Clark County. He will be allowed to apply for parole at the next board meeting. He has served 23 years, eight months.
Also approved was the application of Edward Romero, who has served 13 years, two months on a first-degree murder conviction in the Clark County ax slaying of Ramona Shead, 34, the mother of two. He will be eligible for parole immediately.
The board rejected the application of Tony Barker, sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for killing his wife, Joan Wong Barker, in May 1972. He wanted his term reduced to allow him to apply for parole.
Also turned down was Robert Johnstone, serving a life term without the possibility of parole for the torture-stabbing deaths of Eugene and Mary Carone in a Las Vegas in May 1972. Johnstone, who has served 22 years, six months in prison, said he was the driver of the getaway car and was never in the motel room where the couple were killed. He claimed his two partners, Claude Theriault and Lloyd Paulette, burned the couple with lighted cigarettes, then stabbed them numerous times.
Johnstone, a Canadian, wanted his sentence changed so he could be deported to Canada to continue serving his term. He said he took responsibility for the crime because he brought his two companions to the United States, where the trio started a crime spree.
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