A teen accused of robbing and killing a phone technician was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder and robbery with a deadly weapon.
It took a jury about 21/2 hours to conclude that Deangelo Malone was guilty of shooting and killing 42-year-old Jerry Steiner, a father of two who was servicing a pay telephone in a gang-infested North Las Vegas neighborhood when he was killed on Dec. 27, 2005.
Malone's co-defendant, 21-year-old Jeremy Taylor, also faced murder charges but was acquitted by the jury. He remains behind bars for an unrelated home invasion and burglary charge, according to county jail records.
Steiner's mother, Betty Caplinger, said she was satisfied with the verdict, but still harbored anger toward Malone.
"The fact that he (Malone) got first-degree murder was the only justifiable verdict," she said Friday. "He just killed him (Steiner) in cold blood. There was no reason. He (Steiner) was just doing his job and this kid killed him."
Steiner was gunned down in an alley behind the Buena Vista Springs apartments, off Carey Avenue, between Simmons Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Authorities said a group of teens saw Steiner pull up and walk to a pay phone and then decided to rob him. When Steiner put up a fight, Malone shot him, authorities said. Malone was 15 at the time of the shooting.
Several witnesses in the alley at the time of the shooting testified during the trial. One witness, 16-year-old Ericka Winn, told the jury that Steiner "attacked" the group with the receiver of the pay phone when several in the group approached him.
She said she also heard Steiner yell, "Leave me alone! Get the 'F' away from me," when the group of people approached him.
Winn, according to her previous testimony that was read in court this week, testified that Malone shot Steiner and then said, "Bitch ass man. You should have gave me your money."
After the shooting, the group of about half a dozen youths ran away.
Winn also told the jury that Malone paid her $200 to "keep my mouth closed."
After testifying, Winn broke down in tears outside the courtroom, sobbing uncontrollably while her mother held her.
Chystyne Sims also testified at the trial on Wednesday, but she did so in handcuffs. Authorities said Sims responded to a subpoena to testify but refused to enter the courtroom. The state sought a material witness warrant, handcuffed her and brought her into the courtroom.
Sims said she didn't remember much from that day, including who was in the alley.
After prosecutor Giancarlo Pesci re-read her statements from previous testimony and reports, she reluctantly agreed she had told investigators that "green eyes" -- Malone -- fired the shots and reached into the victim's back pocket after the shooting.
Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-1039.
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