Skyline of Las Vegas
Real news. Real stories. Real voices.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Supported by

Judge Says Murder Defendant Was 'Faking' Incompetence, Is Able To Go On Trial

PHOENIX (AP) — A judge in Phoenix has ruled that a man convicted of a killing a woman in Nevada has been faking being mentally incompetent in order to avoid standing trial in the Arizona homicide of another woman.

Commissioner Nicole Brickner in July had ruled that 46-year-old Craig Leslie Jacobsen was incompetent to stand trial but in a new ruling says Jacobsen is competent and has been "malingering to get out of his criminal case."

Jacobsen was released from a Nevada prison and extradited to Arizona in 2015 after being charged in 2014 in the death of Christina Marie Martinez in Maricopa County in 1997.

Jacobsen was convicted in Nevada in the killing of Ginger Rios, a 20-year-old singer and dancer who disappeared after she went to Jacobsen's spycraft store in Las Vegas.

Sink your teeth into our annual collection of dining — and drinking — stories, including a tally of Sin City's Tiki bars, why good bread is having a moment, and how one award-winning chef is serving up Caribbean history lessons through steak. Plus, discover how Las Vegas is a sports town, in more ways than one. Bon appétit!