DA to seek death penalty for 3 suspects in slaying of Nellis airman

By Dave Toplikar

Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011 | 3:47 p.m.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for three of the four defendants in the murder-for-hire death of Nellis airman Nathan Paet, Clark County District Attorney David Roger said Wednesday.

"We decided to seek the death penalty for Michelle Paet (Nathan Paet's 29-year-old wife), Corry Hawkins and Michael Rodriguez," Roger said.

For the fourth defendant, Jessica Austin, 23, prosecutors will seek one of the other statutory penalties for first-degree murder. Those are either life without parole, life with the possibility of parole or a determinate period of years, Roger said.

"All of those options are open to the jury," Roger said.

All four have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon and murder with use of a deadly weapon.

Rodriguez, 31, and Hawkins, 33, also have been charged with possession of a firearm by an ex-felon.

The four defendants, who all pleaded not guilty to the charges Tuesday, will go before Judge Douglas Herndon at 9 a.m. Thursday for a trial setting. They all remain in the Clark County Detention Center without bail.

In all cases of murder in the first degree, the jury is required to determine punishment, Roger said.

"In cases where we seek the death penalty, we have an obligation to prove what we call aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt," he said. "We will be providing evidence and arguments about aggravated circumstances."

Roger said then the jury will listen to whether there were mitigating circumstances and then decide punishment.

If all of them are convicted, there would be a penalty hearing, he said. But the issue of punishment would be different for three of them.

Depending on the number of witnesses called, the trial could take anywhere from a week to three weeks, he said.

He said because there are four defendants and three of them will have two attorneys each, it would take a while to coordinate calendars to pick a starting date for the trial.

Nathan Paet was shot and killed Dec. 1 after he opened his garage door to leave for work. He went back inside the home after the shooting, in the 9200 block of Alta Monte Court in southwest Las Vegas, where he collapsed.

A police arrest report says his wife, Michelle Paet, confessed to helping plan her husband's murder with Rodriguez because they wanted to pursue a romantic relationship. They had been discussing the murder as early as October, police said.

Police determined from military officials that Michelle Paet would receive $400,000 upon the death of her husband. She claimed she would receive an additional $250,000 from another life insurance policy on her husband, according to the arrest reports.

Rodriguez told police he was "having sex with an ex-porn star" during the time of Nathan Paet's murder, according to the arrest reports.

The reports allege the woman, who police have not identified, gave authorities the following version of events:

She said there was an ongoing plan to kill Nathan Paet that involved Rodriguez, Hawkins, Austin and Michelle Paet. The unidentified woman expected to receive 5 percent of the few thousand dollars Rodriguez was to earn for the murder, according to the report.

On the night of the murder, the woman said she, Austin, Hawkins and Rodriguez were at Austin and Hawkins' apartment in the 2500 block of North Green Valley Parkway in Henderson. Rodriguez and Hawkins then allegedly left to commit a robbery using Rodriguez's black Cadillac.

Meanwhile, Austin lit a fire in the apartment and the men burned their clothes when they returned.