High Court Reinstates Murder Charge Against Former Trooper

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

The high court ruled 4-1 against George Warner in overturning Clark County District Judge Myron Leavitt who blocked prosecutors from pressing arson and murder charges against Warner in the death of Carol Warner.

Prosecutors appealed after Leavitt ruled that evidence he had ordered preserved was destroyed or lost following the June 5, 1989, blaze.

The Supreme Court said prosecution experts said the victim apparently was doused with a flammable liquid and set afire. Prosecutors also said Warner was involved in an extramarital affair and had said he planned to kill his wife.

Justices also said there was evidence a ventilator that helped the victim breath while she was hospitalized until her death two weeks after the fire had been tampered with while Warner was in her hospital room.

Warner had repeatedly said that the blaze probably was started by a dog chewing through an electrical cord, and that the unresolved case had ruined his life.

His attorneys also argued a chair in which the victim was dozing was never preserved by investigators and the mobile home eventually was repossessed by a mortgage company and destroyed.

The Supreme Court's majority ruling, written by Justice Bob Rose, said the evidence might have aided in Warner's defense but "the loss of that evidence was not so prejudicial that Warner will be denied a fair trial."

Justices also said that the "tortured procedural history" of the case was unfortunate, but Warner was provided with proper legal protections in that process.

Justice Charles Springer dissented. He termed the majority ruling "a serious and unwarranted intrusion into the prerogatives of the trial court."

Warner originally was charged in Justice Court with murder, but the action was dismissed when a grand jury indictment was obtained.

Later, the indictment was dismissed, reinstated and dismissed again. Another grand jury got the case, but refused to indict Warner.

A subsequent attempt by prosecutors to revive the murder case in Justice Court failed on technical legal grounds.

The Supreme Court also rejected an appeal from Vernell Evans Jr., sentenced to death for four drug-related slayings in a northeast Las Vegas apartment in 1992.

"The record in this case reflects ample evidence that Evans, himself, killed, attempted to kill or intended that a killing take place," Chief Justice Tom Steffen wrote.

Evans, 25, was sentenced to death in 1994 for his role in the killings of

Samantha Scotti, 24, Lisa Boyer, 26, Jermaine Woods, 19, and Steven Walker, 19.

Evans' conviction and death sentence were automatically reviewed by the court as required in all death penalty cases.