Robert Byford, the defendant, and a codefendant were convicted in the Eighth Judicial District Court, Clark County, of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon and were sentenced to death, and they appealed. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded for retrial. On remand, the defendant was again convicted in the Eighth Judicial District Court, Clark County, of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon and was again sentenced to death. The defendant appealed. The Supreme Court affirmed. SHEARING, J. 

Byford, Williams, and two teenage girls were visiting Smith at his parents’ residence in Las Vegas on March 8, 1991. Byford was 20 years old, Williams 17, and Smith 19. Monica Wilkins, who was 18, called and told Smith she would pay him for a ride home from a local casino. Smith drove his jeep to pick Wilkins up, accompanied by Williams and one of the girls. After Smith picked up Wilkins and her friend, Jennifer Green, he asked Wilkins for gas money. Wilkins had Smith stop at a Burger King so that she could get some money. Williams went inside the store to see what was taking her so long, and Wilkins told him that she had gotten another ride. Smith and Williams were upset with Wilkins, and after they drove away, Williams fired a handgun out the window of the jeep. 

Smith testified that Wilkins had angered him, Williams, and Byford before because she had invited them to her apartment to party but then left with other men. Byford and Williams had talked about “getting rid of her” because she was always “playing games with our heads.” Smith participated in the talk but took the threats as jokes. 

Later that night, Smith, Williams, and Byford were together at Smith’s house when Wilkins called again for a ride home. Accompanied by Byford and Williams, Smith drove to pick her up. Smith then drove all four of them to the desert outside of town to find a party that Byford heard was taking place. Wilkins told the other three that she had taken LSD earlier and was hallucinating. Smith drove to the usual area for parties, but they found no party. They then stopped so that everyone could urinate. Wilkins walked up a ravine to do so. 

Smith testified to the following. As Wilkins finished, Byford handed Williams a handgun and said he “couldn’t do it.” Smith asked Byford what he was doing with the gun, and Byford told Smith to “stay out of it.” Williams then shot Wilkins in the back three to five times. She screamed and fell to the ground. Wilkins got up, walked to Williams, and asked him why he had shot her. He told her that he had only shot around her. Wilkins walked up out of the ravine but then felt the back of her neck, saw that she was bleeding, and again confronted Williams. 

QUESTIONS 

1. How does the Court define the terms “willful,” “deliberate,” and “premeditated”?

2. Sort and arrange the facts of the case according to the definitions of the three terms in (1). 

3. Nevada’s criminal code defines first-degree murder as killing “perpetrated by means of poison, lying in wait or torture, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate and premeditated killing.” In your opinion, did Robert Byford commit first-degree murder? 

4. Assuming Byford is guilty of first-degree murder, should he be sentenced to death? Consider the list of aggravating and mitigating circumstances in the “The Death Penalty” section (page 289). Nevada has a similar list. Which items on the list might apply to him? Explain your answer, based on the facts in the case.