A Nevada man who once spent time in jail is now facing the death penalty after being accused of the decapitation and dismemberment killing of a man who had an affair with his wife.
Opening statements began last week in the murder retrial of Anthony Newton, who is accused of strangling Ulisys ‘Cesar’ Molina, dismembering his body and setting it on fire in a vacant Las Vegas lot on Christmas Day in 2016.
Newton is back in court two months after a judge ruled a mistrial following the first day of testimony by one of his co-defendants who revealed Newton spent time in prison, reports CBS affiliate KLAS.
Court heard Molina began a relationship with Newton’s then-wife while Newton was in prison.
“In the summer of 2015, Jami Malaperdas, the defendant’s wife, ends up having a romantic affair with Cesar Molina, the victim in the case,” prosecutor Pam Weckerly told the court. “And this relationship is known by people in Mr. Molina’s family and it’s not exactly a secret.”
According to state attorneys, Newton and his brother-in-law, George Malaperdas, murdered Molina with assistance from Kelsea Glass.
Malaperdas’ sentencing was pushed back to next month on charges of murder, robbery, and kidnapping. Glass, who caused the mistrial, is also being sentenced in February.
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According to arrest reports obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal at the time, police said Glass lured the victim to the apartment of the woman Molina and Newton were involved with.
Newton knocked and entered the unit where he proceeded to have an argument with the victim. The second man, Malaperdas, knocked on the door, stepped inside and confronted the victim for having sex with his sister.
The duo then began kicking and beating the victim until he was on the floor, where he was then tied up, investigators said.
Cops said Newton then put his foot on Molina’s neck until he stopped moving. The victim’s clothes were removed and his body was wrapped in a sheet and placed in the trunk of a vehicle.
The next day, Newton “had Malaperdas assist in the dismemberment of Molina’s body,” the report said.
The victim’s remains were stuffed in a suitcase, Malaperdas told cops. Newton then poured gasoline on it and set it on fire in an empty desert lot.
Prosecutors and defence attorneys at the retrial agreed to one set of facts over the discovery of Molina’s severed hand in April 2018.
A woman in nearby Henderson sent her 5-year-old child to check for mail and a human hand was found in the mailbox. However, Newton was in custody at the time. While police determined that it belonged to the victim, investigators were stumped as to how it was left there.
Molina’s head and other hand have not been located by police.
“So as we sit here now, we will not be able to answer for you how that hand ended up getting into that lady’s mailbox a year later,” Weckerly said.
Defence attorney Josh Tomsheck countered that police rushed to conclude that Newton was involved in Molina’s killing.
“Anthony Newton could have had nothing to do with that hand,” Tomsheck said. “He was nowhere near it. It was two towns away and he wasn’t in a place where he could get it. Things, ladies and gentlemen, are not always as they seem.”