A man who killed and dismembered his wife’s ex-lover was sentenced Tuesday to spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.
“I feel for what you went through as a child,” said District Judge Jacqueline Bluth, after hearing testimony about Anthony Newton’s difficult upbringing. “I honestly do. And if I could take any of that away, I would. But one thing I cannot do is let the blood of a third person be on my shoulders.”
She then sentenced Newton, 46, to life without parole for killing Ulyses Cesar Molina, whose partial remains were discovered in a vacant lot in 2016.
Newton previously served prison time for killing a woman named Deborah Harvey in Henderson in 1996 when he was a teenager. In that case, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Jurors in February found Newton guilty of all counts at his third trial in connection with the slaying of Molina. Those included first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery.
He had faced the death penalty, but prosecutors agreed to waive a penalty hearing before the jury and instead have Bluth sentence Newton. That agreement took the death penalty off the table, according to Assistant District Attorney Pamela Weckerly.
“My brother wasn’t perfect, but to me, he was a great brother,” Celina Gonzalez, the sister of Molina, told the judge. “He was a great son, he was a great dad. He didn’t deserve anything that this man and his friends did to him.”
Addressing Newton, she added: “You are a monster. You are a sick person. You’re disgusting. If you weren’t let out of prison for the first murder you did, my brother would still be alive right now.”
Hand found in mailbox
A Henderson woman found Molina’s hand in her mailbox, but police were unable to find his head.
Gonzalez said her family could not have an open casket funeral for Molina because he was dismembered.
Newton said nothing when given an opportunity to address Bluth.
Psychologist Nicole Anders testified that he had endured a “chaotic, traumatic childhood” without a stable caregiver.
He was sexually assaulted as a child, she said, and reported using alcohol at age 6, marijuana when he was about 10 and methamphetamines when he was around 13.
Newton, who was in jail custody, spent her testimony outside of the courtroom because, he confirmed to the judge, he did not want to be present for the discussion of his childhood.
Defense attorney Josh Tomsheck said Newton has always maintained his innocence.
He said Newton had acted respectfully toward him, in contrast to the long criminal history outlined in a sentencing memorandum from prosecutors.
“He’s been in contact with the criminal justice system since he was a very young child, almost on a consistent basis, where he’s, for most of his life, been locked up,” said the lawyer, who suggested that Newton’s childhood made it inevitable he would end up in the criminal court system.
Prosecutor: Newton spent days dismembering victim
Tomsheck asked Bluth to give Newton a sentence that would allow him to be paroled, so his children could envision a future with him outside of prison.
“We are not here because of Anthony Newton’s childhood,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney William Flinn. “We are here because he decided to kill Cesar Molina.”
The prosecutor described Newton as a person without regard for others who posed “a never-ending danger to everyone around him.”
Flinn asked for life without parole.
“Enough’s enough,” he said.
After killing Molina, Newton spent days dismembering the victim, removed his tattoos, head and hands and spread those remains around the Las Vegas Valley, according to Flinn. The prosecutor said Newton also lit part of Molina’s remains on fire in a desert lot.
“It takes a different kind of horrific mentality to do something like that to another human being,” said Flinn.
He said Newton had also been an absent father.
Tomsheck said Newton “did not have the toolbox to be a good parent at that time in his life.”
Like Flinn, the judge noted the unusual violence of Newton’s crime. She said his criminal history was also “horrific.”
“It doesn’t seem like rehabilitation is something that honestly can be done,” said Bluth. “To stand on someone’s neck and say, ‘This guy just won’t die,’ while you continue to put pressure over minutes waiting for him to take his last breath, is as an intentional, calculated move as it gets.”
According to prosecutors, Newton stood on Molina’s neck until he died.
‘A completely different person’
In November 2024, Newton’s first trial was declared a mistrial after a witness told jurors Newton had been in prison. At his second trial, in 2025, jurors were unable to reach a verdict.
Weckerly said both co-defendants have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.
Court records indicate Kelsea Wray Glass entered a guilty plea agreement, which was filed under seal in 2019. George Malaperdas pleaded guilty under seal in 2020 to second-degree murder, according to court documents. Both are scheduled for sentencing June 16.
Malaperdas’ attorney, Kristina Wildeveld, said he had been in custody for almost 10 years.
“He’s a completely different person,” she said.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com.
