March 31, 2005
By Cathy Scott

Tony Serra takes on another Vegas-related case

By Cathy Scott
Legendary San Francisco defense attorney J. Tony Serra and company have signed on for the Las Vegas retrial of Kirstin Lobato.

Lobato, 22, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 40 to 100 years in prison for the 2001 mutilation and murder of homeless man Duran Bailey.

An office worker at Serra's North Beach firm Serra, Lichter, Daar, Bustamante, Gill and Greenberg confirmed that Sherry Greenberg, with Serra working on pretrial material, will be defending Lobato during her second trial in Clark County District Court before Judge Valorie Vega.

Serra and Greenberg successfully defended Rick Tabish in the Ted Binion murder case, after convicted murderers Tabish and co-defendant Sandy Murphy were granted a new trial. Both were acquitted of murder in November.

Lobato, who is housed at the Southern Nevada Women's Correctional Facility in North Las Vegas, told investigators that she was 165 miles away in her hometown of Panaca, Nev., when Bailey was killed. However, she was arrested 12 days after Bailey's body was found when a former teacher went to police and said Lobato told her that she had cut off a man's penis during a sexual assault.

According to Lobato's friends -- who have posted information about her case on Justice4Kirstin.com -- Lobato was the victim of a May 2001 attempted rape, and defended herself against her attacker. She testified during the first trial that the rape was attempted by another man -- not Bailey. But she ended up being convicted after prosecutors argued in court that her statement to police about the attempted assault against her was a confession to the slaying. Her friends said that Bailey's murder "was not even connected with what occurred at the scene of the attempted rape," according to the website.

Lobato's supporters insist she was framed and has an ironclad alibi. What hurt Lobato's case, they contend, was testimony from a jailhouse snitch who lied.

Jurists with the Nevada Supreme Court agreed with Lobato's supporters and, in September 2004, granted her a new trial. A jury trial, according to the court, has not yet been scheduled.