Hearing set in Golden Gate shooting

A Nov. 29 preliminary hearing has been set for the man charged with chasing down and killing his ex-girlfriend in a crowded downtown casino where she was a blackjack dealer.

Larry D. Taylor, gripping a copy of the criminal complaint, calmly answered questions this morning from Pro Tem Justice of the Peace Melanie Tobiasson indicating he understood the allegations against him.

The documents included a statement from prosecutors that they are reserving the right to seek the death penalty for the 37-year-old defendant.

Funeral services were held this morning for dealer Gloria Cohns, who was shot to death Wednesday after being chased through the Golden Gate hotel-casino at Fremont and Main streets. A two-year Las Vegas resident, she had three children.

Tobiasson set Taylor's hearing date over the objections of Deputy Public Defender Bob Amundson, who wanted his office's homicide defense team to interview Taylor first. Taylor is being held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center. He is under a suicide watch, jail officials said today.

The judge rejected the move in order to preserve Taylor's legal right to a preliminary hearing within 15 days. Tobiasson ordered the parties back to court on Wednesday to see if there is a need to reset the hearing date.

Taylor surrendered at the Golden Gate immediately after Cohns was shot to death.

Taylor and Cohns met when they both worked for Official Security, and they eventually lived together with her three children, but his obsession with her two years ago led to their breakup.

Metro Police said Taylor, who had moved to Reno, checked into the Golden Gate -- where Cohns worked -- the day before the shooting.

Hours later, he is alleged to have walked into the casino with a semi-automatic handgun and opened fire.

Cohns fled through the casino and into a women's restroom where witnesses said more shots were fired before Cohns ran back into the casino and collapsed.

Taylor was tackled and apprehended by hotel security guards after tossing the pistol on a craps table where he sat after the shooting, police said.

Witnesses said that before his apprehension, he had pointed the pistol at his own head but was unable to pull the trigger.

Should Taylor be convicted of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon, the lightest sentence he could get would be life in prison with parole possible only after he served 40 years.

The charge also carries the possibility of a life sentence with no chance for parole and the death penalty, if prosecutors can prove it is justified.

archive