Husband, defense team doubt Vegas mom slaying was road rage

LAS VEGAS — Police knew a 19-year-old suspect in a shooting that killed a neighborhood mother of four smoked marijuana before he surrendered during a standoff last week, and investigators questioned him while he was high, a defense lawyer said Tuesday.

Erich Milton Nowsch Jr. smoked pot while he talked by telephone with Las Vegas police during the Thursday standoff at his home, attorney Augustus Claus said.

"Not only did they let him, but they watched him do it," Claus told The Associated Press. "They were trying to talk him down."

Claus said the drug use might have calmed his client and avoided a violent SWAT entry into the house. But he said it cast doubt on anything Nowsch told investigators once he was in custody.

"There's a good argument that you can't use whatever you get," he said. "People tend to say things that aren't entirely credible when they're under the influence."

Police referred questions to Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, who didn't immediately respond to messages about the case marked by stunning revelations and conflicting accounts from authorities and the family of the slain woman, Tammy Meyers.

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