Death penalty trial begins with dispute over motive in slaying near Arts District

A prosecutor argued Tuesday that a Las Vegas man was a violent pimp who killed a customer, while a defense attorney said his client acted in self-defense.

In Clark County, where prosecutors frequently seek capital punishment, but rarely get it, the death penalty trial of Curtis Hart, 34, is an outlier because of the speed with which it has followed the underlying killing.

Death penalty cases — and murder cases in general — often drag on for years before a defendant faces a jury because they require extensive preparation and have high stakes.

But Hart invoked his right to a speedy trial, and on Tuesday, attorneys delivered opening statements just eight months after the January shooting near the Arts District that killed Jose Benitez-Rodriguez.

“We’re here because (the) defendant made choices to exploit, manipulate and murder,” Deputy District Attorney Julia Barker said.

Though Hart previously toyed with acting as his own lawyer, saying, “I am powerful beyond measure,” defense attorneys Richard Tanasi and Jess Marchese are representing him at trial.

“Curtis shoots Jose,” Tanasi said. “We may not agree on much, but we agree on that. Jose reaches for his rifle and Curtis fires.”

Barker said Benitez-Rodriguez tried to defend himself with a pellet gun.

Marchese said after court that multiple realistic-looking pellet guns were found at the scene.

Hart, who wore a gray suit and his hair in braids, spoke animatedly with his defense attorneys during the opening statements.

He faces a slew of charges involving multiple alleged victims, including murder with a deadly weapon, robbery, burglary, sexual assault, first-degree kidnapping, sex trafficking and sex trafficking of a child.

Prosecution version

Barker said Hart shot and killed Benitez-Rodriguez in the trailer where he lived on the property of a pallet business.

Benitez-Rodriguez had allowed Marshel Busby, a woman working as a sex worker, into his home for “a date,” according to the prosecutor.

Unbeknownst to Benitez-Rodriguez, Busby and Hart were planning to rob him, Barker said. Busby called Hart, she said, “and once she gave him the signal, you’ll see him hop that gate, creep around the wall, open that door and hold Jose at gunpoint.”

Benitez-Rodriguez was shot four times by Hart, the prosecutor told the jury.

“When Jose was lying on the ground, you will hear that that defendant ordered Marshel to take his phone, his car keys and money” and that the duo fled, she said.

Busby initially protected Hart and “told officers a story,” Barker said, but later accepted a plea deal to robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery counts and agreed to testify at the trial.

While Busby was a co-conspirator in the robbery, she was also a victim of Hart’s choices, the prosecutor said. Hart made Busby hand over her earnings and could be violent, according to Barker.

The prosecutor said Busby would testify about punches, slaps, hits, kicks and how she lost consciousness when Hart put his hands around her neck. Hart also physically abused and sexually assaulted another woman, Barker said.

Defense version

Tanasi laid out a very different version for jurors.

He argued that Hart was defending himself and his girlfriend Busby.

“You’re going to learn that Marshel wants to leave when she’s with Jose, but Jose won’t let her,” he said. “Curtis comes to save her.”

Benitez-Rodriguez threatened both with a pellet gun, Tanasi argued, telling jurors they would decide whether Hart’s response was reasonable based on the gun’s appearance.

In her first statement to police, before making a deal, Busby said Benitez-Rodriguez paid her for sex but wanted more, tried to prevent her from leaving and threatened her with a knife and his rifle, according to Tanasi.

The defense attorney questioned the credibility of Busby, who previously faced a murder charge, describing her as “the person who goes from potentially sitting at that table with Mr. Hart, defending against this case, to striking a deal and now testifying and changing completely her version of events.”

Robert Draskovich, Busby’s lawyer, previously said she had given a truthful account.

Speaking specifically about one encounter, Tanasi also argued that the woman Hart is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting had consensual sex with Hart.

“Ladies and gentlemen, at the conclusion of this case, you are going to have too many unanswered questions,” he told jurors.