Man convicted of Circus Circus murders sentenced to life in prison without parole | Courts

Las Vegas jury sentences man to life in prison without parole Double homicide of 2018 in the Circus Circus, saving his life from the death penalty.

A jury convicted Julius Trotter on Tuesday of two counts of murder with a deadly weapon, two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon and robbery with a deadly weapon in the fatal stabbing of Vietnamese tourists Sang Nghia and Khuong Nguyen in their hotel room. numbers for June 1 of 2018.

He was accused of killing his colleagues during a “door busting” where someone tries to find hotel rooms with the door open to steal things. Prosecutors said the lock had been broken in Nghia and Nguyen’s Circus Circus hotel room, where they had checked in hours earlier.

The penalty phase of the trial continued Tuesday and Wednesday with testimony from family members of Nghia and Nguyen, as well as Trotter’s family. The verdict was read on Thursday at 11 am

Nghia was a mother of three who worked as president of a travel company she ran with her husband. Nguyen was one of her staff, and the two were last-minute additions who arrived with a third guide and a group of clients traveling to the United States from Ho Chi Minh City.

During closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutors did not ask the jury to sentence Trotter to death. Defense attorneys emphasized Trotter’s extended family, which still keeps in touch with him while he has been in prison for the past six years.

“I want to continue to be a positive influence on the people around me, including my family, my children, my mother, my brother and sisters, and so on,” Trotter told jurors Wednesday as he pleaded with them to spare his life.

A surveillance camera captured Trotter in the early hours of the morning when Nghia and Nguyen were killed as they took an elevator in the Circus Circus tower where they lived. The footage then shows him returning to his room at Circus Circus Manor about 45 minutes later, quickly checking out of the hotel and leaving to withdraw cash from an ATM and gamble at the Palms casino.

A few days later, Trotter was arrested in California, where police found him with many items belonging to the victims.

This is an evolving story. Check for updates.

Contact Caitlin Newberg at [email protected] or 702-383-0240.