Las Vegas Sun

By Dave Toplikar

Thu, Aug 11, 2011 (11:13 a.m.)

Norman Belcher is competent to stand trial for the murder of 15-year-old Alexus Portofino, stemming from a drug-related burglary last year in Las Vegas.

That was the ruling made this morning by Judge Kathleen Delaney during a brief competency hearing in Clark County District Court.

However, it’s unclear whether Belcher, who faces the death penalty, will plead guilty at his next court date, which was set for 8:30 a.m. Aug. 22 before Judge Elissa Cadish.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Lalli and Belcher’s court-appointed attorneys, Robert Langford and Lance Maningo, both said they couldn’t comment on whether he would plead guilty. However, Langford said Belcher has finally had some contact with his defense team.

Langford and Maningo had asked for a psychiatrist to evaluate Belcher last month during a July 18 status check on the case. At that time, the two attorneys said Belcher had refused to meet with them.

Also at that time, Belcher had told the court he didn’t want to deal with the attorneys who had been appointed to his case and that instead he wanted to change his plea to guilty for the murder of Alexus Postorino and the shooting of Nicholas Brabham, 34, who was critically injured in the home invasion.

The shootings occurred Dec. 6, 2010, in the 9700 block of Villa Lorena Drive, near Grand Canyon Drive and Tropicana Avenue in the western valley.

Belcher is being held in the Clark County Detention Center.

He has been charged with burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon, two counts of robbery with the use of a deadly weapon, murder with the use of a deadly weapon, attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon, battery with the use of a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm, and third-degree larceny.

Belcher entered a plea of not guilty in March. Since that time, he has tried to have the court appoint different attorneys to represent him.

But in June, the judge said their was no basis to dismiss the attorneys and told them to proceed toward the trial, which was set for Feb. 21, 2012.

During the preliminary hearing, Postorino testified that the shooting followed a disagreement he and Belcher were having over money that Belcher said Postorino owed him. Postorino told the court he sold drugs out of his home because he didn’t have a job. He also testified that Belcher was familiar with his home and knew that he kept drugs and money in a heavy metal safe in the home’s master bedroom.

According to Brabham’s testimony, when Belcher broke into the home, Brabham, who was Postorino’s roommate, came to the top of the stairs to investigate the noise and was shot twice. Then, while Brabham retreated into his own bedroom, Belcher came up the stairs and went into the master bedroom, where Postorino’s daughter, Alexus, was sleeping because her room was being painted, Brabham testified.

Police said when they arrived they found both Alexus Postorino and Brabham suffering from multiple gunshots. Both were taken to UMC, where the teenager died.

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