LAS VEGAS (AP) — A man found guilty of bludgeoning a Utah tourist to death in one of the city's roughest neighborhoods could face 20 years to life in prison at sentencing in January, a prosecutor said.
Shod Walker, 28, was convicted this past week of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon in the slaying of Simone Hirst, a former model from Park City.
Authorities said Hirst quarreled with her boyfriend while celebrating her 39th birthday and took a taxi alone from the posh Bellagio hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip to a rundown section of downtown. Prosecutors said she was killed at a low-budget motel after trading sex with strangers for crack cocaine.
Walker's first trial ended in mistrial in February after a juror went home and used a rock and a coconut to simulate the slaying described in court.
A new jury began hearing the case Nov. 2. Jurors deliberated about seven hours Wednesday before returning a verdict.
Hirst's father, Terry Hirst, said he felt as if his daughter was with him when the verdict was read in Clark County District Court.
Walker remained in custody Thursday at the Clark County jail in Las Vegas pending sentencing Jan. 4.
DNA evidence showed Walker had sex with Hirst, prosecutors said, and a witness saw the two together in the motel courtyard where prosecutors said she was killed with a 44-pound rock.
Walker's defense lawyer, Greg Denue, argued that Hirst suffered fatal injuries when she fell out a first-story laundry room window.