LAS VEGAS (AP) - Testimony started Tuesday in the death penalty murder trial of a 26-year-old man accused of killing a Las Vegas liquor store clerk who couldn’t open a store safe during a robbery in April 2016.
Ray Charles Brown is accused of demanding that 24-year-old Matthew Christensen open the safe and shooting him multiple times during a robbery captured on surveillance video.
The slaying drew intense attention after the pregnant store manager said Christensen refused to tell a trio of robbers that only she had the combination to the safe.
Brown also faces armed robbery, kidnapping, weapon and conspiracy charges in a trial the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported is scheduled to take up to two weeks.
Two co-defendants in the case, brothers Lee Dominic Sykes and Lee Murray Sykes, pleaded guilty and have been sentenced for their roles in the robbery and killing.
Lee Dominic Sykes, 24, avoided a death-penalty trial with his guilty plea to first-degree murder with a weapon. He is serving 25 and 65 years in state prison.
Lee Murray Sykes, 26, who was unarmed during the robbery, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and robbery. He’s serving 15 to 40 years.
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