A convicted felon accused of killing two Vietnamese tour leaders at a Las Vegas Strip casino-hotel made multiple court appearances Tuesday following his return in custody to Nevada from California.
Julius Damiano Deangilo Trotter stood in shackles and sought time to hire a lawyer for his defense in the double-murder and robbery case. Nationalpost.com reported
Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Harmony Letizia gave him until Oct. 4 to do so.
Trotter, 31, is accused of stabbing Sang Boi Nghia and Khuong Le Ba Nguyen to death before their bodies were found June 1 in a room at the Circus Circus hotel.
District Attorney Steve Wolfson has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty if Trotter is convicted.
Deputy public defender Joseph Abood accompanied Trotter during three separate court appearances at which Trotter wasn’t asked to enter pleas.
In separate cases, he is accused of armed robbery, burglary with a weapon and felony lewdness.
Abood and a prosecutor, Pamela Weckerly, declined to comment outside court.
Trotter remains jailed without bail.
Nghia owned a tour business in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Nguyen was a tour employee. Police said they arrived in Las Vegas with a tour group from Los Angeles a day before their bodies were found.
Hotel security went to their room on the 21st floor at the request of tour members worried that the two hadn’t shown up for a trip to the Grand Canyon.
Trotter was arrested a week later in Chino, California, after a car chase.
Julius Trotter, 31, accused of killing two Vietnamese tour leaders at a Las Vegas Strip casino-hotel.
FILE – This February 2017, file photo released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows Julius Trotter, 31, accused of killing two Vietnamese tour leaders at a Las Vegas Strip casino-hotel. Trotter told a judge during a hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, that he’s trying to hire a lawyer for the double-murder case, and the judge gave him until Oct. 4 to do so. Trotter is accused of stabbing Sang Boi Nghia and Khuong Le Ba Nguyen to death before their bodies were found June 1 in a room at the Circus Circus hotel. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP, File)AP