Within the span of a few hours, a Hawthorne teenager transformed himself from murder suspect into the state's star witness in the double slaying at a Lone Star Steak House.
The 15-year-old admitted accomplice of the man charged in the murders of two steak house employees plea bargained his case Thursday as his preliminary hearing was about to begin.
Kenya Hall then reluctantly took the witness stand to recall the brutal and bloody events on April 15 that he said were orchestrated and perpetrated by 23-year-old Marlo Thomas.
Hall testified that Thomas, who had been fired from his dish washing job at the restaurant, even put a .32-caliber pistol in his hand and let him rob the restaurant of $7,000 while the murders were being committed.
At the end of the hearing, Justice of the Peace Doug Smith ordered Thomas to stand trial in District Court and set bail at $6 million.
He called the evidence "overwhelming."
"This is the most dangerous criminal ... and the greatest threat to the community that I have ever seen," Smith declared before setting the high bail.
"This is the most gruesome ... most cold-hearted murder I've seen," he said in the courtroom jammed on one side with families of the victims and on the other side with supporters of the defendant.
There were quiet sobs from the victims' side of the courtroom as Deputy Clark County Medical Examiner Dr. Robert Jordan told how Carl Dixon, 23, of North Las Vegas, was sliced and stabbed 27 times in the attack.
The second employee, 21-year-old Matthew Gianakis of Las Vegas, was stabbed once in the heart and once in the back. While Dixon had defensive wounds on his hands and arms, Gianakis apparently had no chance to fend off his attacker.
Hall, who is Thomas' nephew, said he was told they were going to the restaurant at Cheyenne Avenue and Rainbow Boulevard to see if Thomas could get back his old job.
But before they walked to the back employee's entrance about 8 a.m., Thomas loaded the pistol and carried it inside, the teenager said.
The manager, Vincent Oddo, 27, testified that when he answered the knock on his office door, Thomas pushed the gun in his face.
He said that as he opened the safe to stuff the money in bank bags, the pistol was handed to Hall, who nervously demanded, "Give me it all."
Oddo said that when Gianakis was heard screaming "No, no no. Stop, stop, stop" Hall left to investigate and that gave the manager time to flee out the front door to a nearby market.
He said he called 911 but was put on hold for a couple of minutes before he could summon help.
Hall said that after the incident, as he, his sister Angela Colleen Love, and Thomas were driving away from the restaurant, Thomas told him, "If you commit a crime, you're not supposed to leave no witnesses."
The teenager added that Thomas indicated he should have shot Oddo in the back of the head.
As the trio drove the 300 miles north to their Hawthorne home, Hall said Thomas suggested that if they were caught the teen should take the responsibility because he would face only a short prison term because of his age.
Although Hall had agreed to be a witness for the prosecution, his answers were brief and Deputy District Attorney Mel Harmon repeatedly had to refer to the teen's information-filled statements to police after his arrest.
Hall had little recollection Thursday of the murders but admitted he told police that Thomas had lured Dixon into a bathroom where he was stabbed to death with a knife from the restaurant.
The statement indicated that Thomas then called Gianakis to the area and stabbed him as he came around a corner.
Hall, who still will face a charge of robbery with the use of a deadly weapon, waived his preliminary hearing Thursday as the first step in the plea bargain and will enter his plea July 8 in District Court.
That is the same day Thomas will be arraigned. Although the issue has not been raised in court, it is anticipated that the district attorney's office will seek the death penalty.
Thomas is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, robbery, murder, burglary and kidnapping.
Love, 22, Thomas' wife, who Hall said was the driver who transported Thomas and her brother to the scene of the double slaying, and later to central Nevada where they were arrested, was not charged in the case.
District Attorney Stewart Bell said that there is "insufficient evidence at this time to show that she knew the purpose" of the trip to the Lone Star.
The defendants were apprehended while riding in Love's car about 10 miles south of Hawthorne. The vehicle had been sought by police here since shortly after the slayings. Thomas had been seen at the restaurant just before the murders by another employee on his way home.
There was a one-mile pursuit by Mineral County sheriff's deputies, but once the vehicle was stopped, the defendants offered no resistance.
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