NYE COUNTY (KTNV) — One of three suspects accused of murdering a Las Vegas man has been found guilty.
On Tuesday, a jury found Brad Mehn guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon and first-degree kidnapping with a deadly weapon in the murder of 27-year-old Roy Jaggers.
Mehn, Heather Pate, and Kevin Dent were all arrested in August 2021 after Jaggers' body was found in Cathedral Canyon.
Authorities told 13 Investigates that Pate believed Roy had molested one of her children, which police said was unsubstantiated. They add that Pate and Dent lured Jaggers to Pate's home and beat him before handcuffing him, wrapping him in a tarp, and traveling to meet up with Mehn in Nye County. The sheriff's office said Jaggers was tortured for hours with multiple weapons including a blowtorch, knife, baton, and axe until he was forced to strip naked and walk off a cliff into the gorge, then shot to death.
The Jaggers family was outraged when Dent and Pate were given plea deals by the Nye County District Attorney's office. Dent pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and could be eligible for parole in 10 years. Pate pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping with parole eligibility in as little as 15 years.
"Two of them, to me, on the plea deals... just doesn't make any sense for what he went through," said Roy's father, Jerry Jaggers.
Speaking on camera for the first time to 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears, Roy's parents said their victims' rights were violated when the Nye County D.A. failed to inform them about the plea deals.
District Attorney Brian Kunzi said his office didn't ask Jaggers' parents for "permission to offer plea deals" as it's "not a right granted by our constitution."
Roy's mother, Kassy Robinson, is still searching for peace of mind. "My son--and this was the only thing I could say to myself to keep myself sane--is my son was put on this earth for a reason and his task on this earth was to get those three people off the streets."
Brad Mehn is scheduled to be back in court on Thursday. That's when Nye County Judge Kim Wanker said witness testimony is scheduled to begin for the penalty phase of this case.
