Ruling favors years of convictions in Nevada

Friday, Jan. 30, 1998 | 10:22 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said Thursday a ruling by a federal appeals court in a criminal case will mean that dozens of criminal cases, including those with death penalties, will not have to be tried again.

A panel on the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, voted 2-1 that Nevada's jury instruction on reasonable doubt, in effect from 1967 to 1991, was constitutional.

The decision struck down the appeal of Miguel Ramirez, convicted by a jury in Clark County in 1987 of kidnapping, sexual assault and conspiracy to commit sexual assault.

The jury instruction was changed by the 1991 Legislature following a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court which held that a Louisiana jury instruction defining reasonable doubt was invalid.

Since that time, many criminal defendants have claimed they were entitled to new trials because the Nevada law was similarly unconstitutional.

Del Papa said the circuit court's decision was "critical to Nevada in several respects." The court stopped a violent criminal from getting a new trial, she said.

"Second, we have dozens of cases pending in federal habeas review, including several capital cases, in which this precedent now applies in the state's favor.

"The state's prosecutors won't have to spend so much time constantly litigating the same issues. Third, the possibility of having to retry every case between 1967 and 1991 based on the jury instruction issue is eliminated."

She said this decision can be reviewed only by an 11-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court or by the U. S. Supreme Court.