75-year-old man convicted in 1996 Las Vegas murder dies in hospice care
A 75-year-old inmate incarcerated along with his son after being convicted in a Las Vegas murder case two decades ago died in hospice care on Tuesday, the Nevada Department of Corrections said.
Inmate Rudiberto Guerrero died while in hospice care in Las Vegas, the Corrections Department said in a Tuesday release. Before he was in hospice, Guerrero was an inmate at Southern Desert Correctional Center, where he had been incarcerated since March 1998. He was convicted of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit murder.
Guerrero’s son, Alberto Guerrero, was convicted of murder with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit murder and embezzlement in the same case, court records show. Both pleaded not guilty in the jury trial.
The two were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years, the Review-Journal reported.
The Clark County coroner’s office will determine Guerrero’s cause and manner of death.
The 75-year-old was arrested almost exactly 22 years ago, on Dec. 15, 1996, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported at the time of his arrest. He was arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of 38-year-old Manuel Monpie, of Las Vegas, the day before.
Alberto Guerrero was arrested in connection with the shooting on Dec. 21, 1996. Rudiberto Guerrero was 54 and Alberto Guerrero was 29 at the time of their arrests.
The two were convicted of shooting Monpie after he attended Rudiberto Guerrero’s birthday party, the Review-Journal reported. Monpie got in an argument with Alberto Guerrero at the party, with Monpie stomping on cassette tapes and destroying them, according to testimony at the trial.
The father and son went to Monpie’s home and shot him, each with a separate gun, the Review-Journal reported at the time. Monpie died at the scene.
Both inmates filed multiple petitions to appeal their case. The last notice of appeal the Guerreros filed was in March 2017. Their most recent court activity was in July, when the cases were reassigned to a different department in the Nevada Supreme Court, court records show.
Alberto Guerrero remained in the Southern Desert Correctional Center on Wednesday, department of corrections records show.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.
