Sun archives
- Aug. 27, 2003 -- Witnesses describe grisly finds
CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a Las Vegas man convicted of the 2003 killing and dismemberment of a man whose body parts were discovered in suitcases in trash bins.
Richard Peters, sentenced to life without possibility of parole, claimed there were seven errors made at his trial on charges he killed Allan Nidiffer over a drug deal.
Peters initially refused to talk to police and asked for a lawyer. As officers were preparing the arrest papers, a police sergeant talked to Peters trying to convince him to confess. Before the lawyer arrived, Peters changed his mind and gave a statement detailing the crime.
That statement was introduced at trial. And Peters claimed his rights were violated by the sergeant who talked to him before his lawyer arrived.
The court said the admissions to the crime made by Peters were “obtained in violation of his Fifth Amendment right to counsel and should not have been admitted at trial.” It said Peters’ constitutional rights were violated when the videotape of his admission was introduced at trial.
However, the court also noted that Peters had testified at the trial, admitting to the killing and making the prior admission of the videotape a harmless error.
A co-defendant in the case, Wayne Dearion, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a 10-25 year sentence.
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