The Latest: Newton tells jury he fired shot as burglars fled
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Latest on the trial of a 22-year-old Nevada prison inmate accused of burglarizing the home of Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton and his family in June 2018 (all times local):
5:15 p.m.
Longtime Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton told a jury he fired a gunshot to scare away two burglars that he and his wife and daughter encountered fleeing their home a year ago.
The 77-year-old “Danke Shoen” singer testified Tuesday that he shot once into the air with a five-shot revolver he carries with him.
Newton remembered his wife, Kathleen Newton, yelling for him to shoot as one of the fleeing men stopped to pick up a duffel bag he dropped while hitting a family dog with a tire iron.
He said the men disappeared through a hedge toward a wall on his large property in Las Vegas.
The testimony came during trial for 22-year-old Weslie Martin, who prosecutors say was one of the burglars.
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12:05 p.m.
A jury in Las Vegas is due to hear longtime entertainer Wayne Newton and his wife describe encountering two burglars at their home a year ago, including one who attacked their dogs with a crowbar before escaping over a wall.
Prosecutor Jory Scarborough told jurors Tuesday that 22-year-old Weslie Hosea Martin was one of those burglars, and later sold Newton valuables to a coin and jewelry store.
Scarborough says Martin also was responsible for a break-in two weeks earlier at the Newton home, and at a neighboring property.
Martin’s public defender, Will Ewing, told jurors that only a vague video security image ties Martin to the second break-in, which the Newtons interrupted when they returned home.
Martin is facing 11 felonies and sentencing as a habitual criminal if he’s convicted.
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