Las Vegas Review-Journal

Man indicted in May slaying

Another suspect accused of being getaway driver after shooting, looting of home

- B By FRANCIS MCCABE LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Bayzle Morgan spilled his blood throughout his victim’s home, prosecutor­s said.

Morgan’s blood was the key evidence that led investigat­ors to arrest the 21-year-old ex-convict with veiled neo-Nazi symbols tattooed on his face.

On Wednesday, Chief Deputy District Attorney Giancarlo Pesci said Morgan was indicted in the May 22 slaying of Jean Main.

The 75-year-old woman was found by her boyfriend facedown in a first-floor bathroom, pistolwhip­ped and shot in the back of the head. Her home at 8050 Green Pasture Ave., near Cimarron and Lone Mountain roads, was ransacked and looted.

Pesci said the district attorney’s death penalty committee will consider seeking capital punishment against Morgan, whose left eye is surrounded by a tattoo of a swastika inside a four leaf clover and the number “88,” a reference to the eighth letter of the alphabet, H, meaning Heil Hitler.

Morgan was indicted on firstdegre­e murder, burglary, robbery and kidnapping charges.

His co-defendant, Keith Smith, whom prosecutor­s said was the getaway driver, was indicted on one count each of burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary.

According to a Las Vegas police report, investigat­ors discovered a portion of a handgun’s trigger guard near Main’s body.

Blood was found throughout the home and tested. It matched Morgan, whose DNA was collected after a 2010 felony conviction in an auto theft case for which he was

sentenced to 19 to 48 months in prison.

Morgan denied being involved in the killing and robbery when interviewe­d by detectives, who noted an L-shaped wound on his right thumb.

But Morgan’s girlfriend cooperated with authoritie­s and told them he was the robber and triggerman. She helped them recover items stolen from Main’s home, including a laptop and a Kindle Fire.

Authoritie­s believe Morgan suffered the thumb wound when the trigger guard broke as he pistol-whipped Main.

Also, Morgan was indicted in an unrelated case involving robbery with use of a deadly weapon. In that case, he is accused of taking a motorcycle from a man at gunpoint.

Morgan is being held without bail, and Smith is being held on $50,000 bail at the Clark County Detention Center.

An arraignmen­t hearing is set for July 2 before Judge Michelle Leavitt.

The district attorney’s death penalty committee, whose meetings are not public, looks at three factors when considerin­g capital punishment: whether there are aggravatin­g factors in the case, whether a jury would impose the death penalty as punishment and whether a conviction would stand up under appeal.

 ?? Murder suspect ?? Bayzle Morgan
Murder suspect Bayzle Morgan
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