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ELKO, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada man imprisoned for more than 13 years for a second-degree murder conviction was granted parole in the case shortly after a co-defendant who won his death-penalty appeal took a plea deal, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
James T. Mendenhall, 55, was granted parole effective Oct. 1 in the 1998 beating death of Donald "Lobo" Brown in Elko, but still has to serve another 22 months to eight years for his conviction on a conspiracy charge, the Elko Daily Free Press reported (http://bit.ly/1tvQhwR ).
Co-defendant Kelly Rhyne pleaded guilty Sept. 30 to second-degree murder to avoid a retrial after his first-degree murder conviction and death sentence were overturned in January by the Nevada Supreme Court.
Justices ruled that Rhyne's trial lawyers weren't qualified to handle a death penalty case.
Rhyne could face 10 years to life in prison when he's sentenced by Senior District Court Judge Norman Robison of Gardnerville. A sentencing date wasn't immediately set.
Authorities say Brown was killed after Rhyne and Mendenhall encountered him in an Elko bar on Oct. 31, 1998.
The next day, a hotel worker saw two men pushing a human leg into a trash bin, according to police records.
Prosecutors said Brown's DNA was found in blood on the suspects' clothes, and marks on Brown's face appeared to match Mendenhall's boot and the pattern of a tread from a tennis shoe.
Mendenhall took a plea deal before trial and agreed to testify at Rhyne's trial.
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Information from: Elko Daily Free Press, http://www.elkodaily.com
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