DA to seek death penalty against ex-casino dealer

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Prosecutors will seek the death penalty in the case of a former blackjack dealer charged with fatally stabbing her ex-boyfriend’s daughter and slashing the face of a Las Vegas Strip casino co-worker, the Clark County District Attorney’s office said Wednesday.

District Attorney Steve Wolfson and prosecutors made the decision hours after Brenda Stokes Wilson, 50, pleaded not guilty to killing 10-year-old Jade Morris on Dec. 21, and then attacking former friend and co-worker Joyce Rhone with razors at the Bellagio casino.

Clark County District Court Judge Kathleen Delaney set trial for July 15, but the date is expected to be pushed back while Stokes Wilson gets new lawyers.

Stokes Wilson’s current attorney, Tony Liker, told the Delaney on Wednesday that he plans to withdraw from the case. Liker declined comment outside court.

Stokes Wilson was a former girlfriend of the girl’s father, Philip Morris, and a trusted friend to Jade. Police and family members say they think the attacks were motivated by Stokes Morris’ mistaken jealous belief that the girl’s father had begun dating Rhone.

Stokes Wilson was arrested at the Bellagio, but Jade Morris’ body wasn’t found until several days later in unkempt brush at an abandoned housing development. The site was about 10 miles from the downtown Las Vegas outlet mall where Stokes was to have taken the girl Christmas shopping.

A six-count indictment handed up Feb. 22 charges her with first-degree kidnapping and murder with a deadly weapon in Jade Morris’ death. She faces attempted murder with a deadly weapon, battery with a deadly weapon with substantial bodily harm and mayhem with a deadly weapon.