Man pleads not guilty in slaying of his wife

Testimony at a preliminary hearing indicated that after he was stopped following a high-speed chase near Searchlight in October, Fernando Hernandez blurted out to a Metro Police officer, "Just shoot me, just kill me. I killed her."

But on Thursday Hernandez pleaded not guilty to charges he murdered his wife and a variety of other counts. District Judge Sally Loehrer set an April 24 trial date for the 38-year-old man who had his 3-year-old daughter in the car with him.

The case will return to court on Dec. 9 when prosecutors will announce whether the death penalty will be sought. Sgt. David Swoboda said when the speeding car was stopped, the girl told him, "Daddy hurt mommy real bad."

The statement and the defendant's admission led police to the home of Donna Hernandez in the 2400 block of Clifton Court in Las Vegas, where they discovered the 38-year-old woman's bloody body.

She had been stabbed numerous times, strangled and bludgeoned.

Her volatile separation from her husband had prompted Donna Hernandez to obtain temporary and extended protective orders from the Clark County Family Court, where she worked as a court clerk.

But the orders couldn't save her life on Oct. 6.

Earlier in the year Fernando Hernandez had been arrested on disorderly conduct charges at his ex-wife's home, but Metro Police Lt. Wayne Petersen has said there were no other arrests.

In addition to the murder count, Hernandez is charged with burglary, sexual assualt, kidnapping, drunken driving, felony speeding and the unlawful sexual penetration of a dead human body.

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