Troy Kell - Conviction For A Previous Murder

Conviction For A Previous Murder

Kell was originally imprisoned in the state of Nevada for the murder of 21-year old James "Cotton" Kelly. Although tried for killing "Kelly," the victim's real name was James Thiede, a Canadian citizen who was under investigation for drug smuggling from the RCMP(Royal Canadian Mounted Police). 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 15 year-old long-time friend, Sandy M. Shaw to beat Cotton Kelly for relentlessly stalking Miss Shaw for sex. Her mother had gone to the police earlier, but there were no stalking laws on the books at that time, which caused Shaw to turn to Kell, her childhood protector from her old neighborhood.

Cotton Kelly drove into the desert with Shaw, Kell, and a third young man (William "Billy" Merritt), where Kell shot Kelly six times in the face, killing him. The murder was dubbed the "Show and Tell Murder" by Las Vegas media, because Shaw and another teen (David Fletcher) allegedly returned to the scene of the crime with their friends, to see the corpse. One of the friends eventually reported the incident to the police which led to the arrests and convictions of Shaw, Kell, and Merritt.

The Las Vegas Sun reported Ms. 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. “Cotton Kelly had been hassling me and pestering me to go out with him and to pose for nude pictures. He would call our house at all hours of the day and was so persistent that my mom phoned the police to request that they keep him away from me. But they didn’t have stalking laws in place then like we have today.”

For her part in the crime Sandy Shaw was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In 2004, the State Board of Pardons and Parole commuted her sentence making her eligible for parole. She served 21 years of her sentence and was released on parole in December 2007. William Merritt, who testified against Kell, was released from prison after serving only 4 years of an 8-to-12-year, plea-bargained sentence. He later returned for subsequent crimes. and is now serving life in prison without parole. Troy Kell was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He was transferred to Utah because of violent altercations between himself and other inmates and gang affiliations.