Mother, Daughter Plead Guilty to Elderly Neighbor’s Murder, Robbery
A Las Vegas woman and her 27-year-old daughter have pleaded guilty to the slaying of their 73-year-old neighbor so that they could steal her coin collection.
According to court records, 46-year-old Lourie Rodriguez and her daughter Amber Hall accepted a plea deal Wednesday in the slaying last April of Jean Greenburg, their elderly neighbor. Apparently, they reconsidered their earlier stand. On July, the two had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against them by prosecutors.
Rodriguez pleaded guilty to first-degree murder with a deadly weapon of a victim over 60 and robbery with a deadly weapon of an older person while Hall pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with a deadly weapon of a victim over 60 and robbery with a deadly weapon of an older person. Rodriguez and Hall, who have been held in the Clark County Detention Center without bail since their arrest April 29 last year, will receive their sentencing from Chief Judge Jennifer Togliatti on April 1 this year.
According to police accounts, responding officers found Greenburg in her recliner beaten and stabbed to death on April 27 inside her home at Pinewood Apartments, near Desert Inn Road and South Maryland Parkway. The elderly victim lived alone and maintained a valuable collection of U.S. coins. Rodriguez, who said she was a friend of Greenburg and that she visited her almost daily, told investigators that she last saw the elderly woman the evening before her death when she and her daughter stopped by the victim’s apartment.
Later though, investigators noticed activity on Greenburg’s bank account the night she was found dead. A review of the ATM surveillance video connected Rodriguez and Hall to that transaction which involved the dead woman’s bank account. A search of the apartment occupied by Rodriguez and Hall revealed cash totaling $2,530 which police suspected may have come from pawning Greenburg’s coins. Eventually, Rodriguez and Hall confessed to the police that they plotted their elderly neighbor’s slaying so they could steal her coin collection. They said they hid a knife and a piece of wood in a baby stroller when they visited Greenburg on the evening they carried out their plot. They used the piece of wood to bludgeon her before stabbing her with the knife.
Nevada law imposes sentencing enhancements — increased penalties — when the victim is elderly. Under NRS 193.167, any person who commits certain crimes “against any person who is 60 years of age or older or against a vulnerable person shall, in addition to the term of imprisonment prescribed by statute for the crime, be punished, if the crime is a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor, by imprisonment in the county jail for a term equal to the term of imprisonment prescribed by statute for the crime, and, if the crime is a felony, by imprisonment in the state prison for a minimum term of not less than 1 year and a maximum term of not more than 20 years.”
There are many sentencing enhancements possible depending on circumstances. Contact a criminal defense attorney for a legal counsel.