Prosecutors said the murder of Blackmon, an African American, by Kell, a white supremacist, was racially motivated.
[citation needed] Some years later, Thiede's mother, father, and uncle were federally indicted both in Las Vegas and Toronto for drug smuggling, all using the same alias, "Kelly."
In 1986, Kell, then age 18, was asked by his 15-year-old long-time friend, Sandy Shaw, to beat Cotton Kelly for stalking her.
[6] One of the friends eventually reported the incident to the police, which led to the arrests and convictions of Shaw, Kell, and Merritt.
Fletcher further stated that he believed that his testimony was what convicted Shaw and expressed "deep regret" but also "relief" for coming forward after all those years.
The Las Vegas Sun reported Shaw's words: "I made a horrible, immature decision to ask a friend to rough this man up so he would leave me alone," Sandy says.
[8] HBO, in cooperation with Blowback Productions, filmed a documentary, entitled Gladiator Days: Anatomy of a Prison Murder, released in 2002.