Court delay for ex-con in Vegas cold case slayings
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A judge postponed arraignment for a 65-year-old ex-convict who was arrested in Mississippi and returned to Las Vegas to face charges in two rape-slayings dating from 1978 and 1994.
A white-haired Nathaniel Burkett sat shackled in a wheelchair Friday and said nothing while a deputy public defender, Clark Patrick, told a judge his office needs to check whether it has a conflict or can represent Burkett.
Judge Eric Goodman reset the date for next Thursday.
Burkett faces murder and sex assault charges in the separate rape-strangulations of 22-year-old Barbara Ann Cox in April 1978 and 27-year-old Tina Gayle Mitchell in February 1994.
Police call Burkett a serial killer.
He served prison time from 1983 to 1992 in Mississippi and 2004 to 2009 in Nevada prisons on separate manslaughter convictions.
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