Wednesday, Dec. 8, 1999 | 9:57 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- A man sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for a fatal shooting in a barroom robbery in Las Vegas in 1980 has won clemency from the state Pardons Board.
In an 8-1 vote, the board agreed to allow Joel Kinney, 41, to be immediately eligible to apply for parole. He has served 19 years, nine months for the fatal shooting of Donald Lill, 38, during a robbery of the Nite Twain Bar on Feb. 12, 1980.
This was the fourth appearance of Kinney before the Pardons Board. His lawyer, Steve Sexton, told the board Kinney has not had any disciplinary infractions since his last appearance before the board in 1994. He said Kinney "represents everything that is good in the prison system."
Kinney has worked in landscaping prison grounds and in building furniture for sale. "He has changed his life," Sexton said. Prison Director Bob Bayer backed up Sexton's statement, saying he has watched Kinney change during his time in prison. "I've got a lot of faith in him," the director said.
Kinney was an accomplice of Charles Lee Axtell who actually pulled the trigger in the killing. Axtell was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Opposing the reduction in the sentence was Frank Ponticello, deputy district attorney for Clark County, who said Kinney had a criminal record prior to the shooting. He said the prosecution intended to seek the death penalty but then a plea bargain was struck for Kinney to plead guilty to first-degree murder.
"We don't see any reason to change it," Ponticello said, referring to the life without parole sentence.
Kinney said, "I'm ashamed of the things I've done," in reference to the killing. But he added, "I'm proud of the things I've done since. I can make a better life for myself."
His brother, Phil Kinney, a painter in Reno, said he has seen a change come over his brother. And he said he would hire his brother in his painting business when he is released.
Kinney still must be approved by the Parole Board. The dissenting vote on the Pardons Board was cast by Supreme Court Justice Myron Leavitt.
The pardons board also overrode the objections of Ponticello to allow Joni Goldyn to apply for parole in 2001 from her consecutive life terms for being declared an habitual criminal and convictions of writing bad checks.
Ponticello said Goldyn was "one of the most manipulative criminals I have seen in my 11 years in the district attorney's office." She had prior convictions of fraud or bad check writing in Colorado, Arizona and Kansas before being sentenced to prison in Nevada, where she has served nine years and 10 months.
Ponticello said she has used more than 100 aliases and 11 Social Security numbers. She would open a bank account in another person's name, defraud the bank and hurt the reputation of the victim. If released, Ponticello said, she would revert to her life of bogus check writing.
"She should stay in prison as long as possible to protect society," he said.
But Goldyn told the board, "I believe my self destructive behavior is at an end." Her lawyer, Jim Logan, said Goldyn has earned two college degrees in prison and has formed a Gamblers Anonymous group. Goldyn said her problems started with gambling. She used to travel to Las Vegas every weekend to gamble. And finally she moved to Las Vegas, thinking that she could break the habit.
Supreme Court Justice Miriam Shearing, a member of the Pardons Board, told Goldyn that if she gets in trouble again, she's going to prison for the rest of her life.
Goldyn, 53, will have to wait until 2001 before she can apply to the Parole Board for release.
Also, the board unanimously agreed to consolidate two 15-year consecutive terms into one remaining 15-year sentence for Raul Caboverde, who has spent nearly 18 years in prison for a crime spree in which one person was wounded during at least two robberies in Clark County.
Caboverde, 43, was originally sentenced to 120 to 190 years. He got his sentence reduced five years ago by the Pardons Board. And this action will allow him to apply for parole in 2002. His lawyer, Harriet Cummings, told the board that Caboverde "deserved and needed to be put away" when he was convicted. "He admits he was an angry young man," said Cummings. "But he realized it was his own fault when he got to prison."
Caboverde, a native of Cuba, obtained a high school diploma, attended a number of other classes in prison and teaches a Bible class in Spanish.
In other cases, the board:
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