Top court upholds LV man’s execution

Monday, Nov. 1, 1999 | 11:14 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Sun reporter Jerry Fink contributed to this story.

A Las Vegas killer who was 16 years old when he committed his crime in 1993 failed to sway the U.S. Supreme Court today with an argument that his execution would violate an international treaty.

Michael Domingues, 22, was convicted and sentenced to death for the Oct. 22, 1993, murders of Arjin Chanel Pechpo and her 4-year-old son, Jonathan Smith, at their Las Vegas home. Police said Domingues forced his way into the home, strangled the woman and fatally stabbed her son after trying unsuccessfully to electrocute him.

After losing his first round of appeals, Domingues invoked the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a treaty the United States ratified in 1992.

In June the court ordered U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to examine the treaty that calls for a worldwide ban on imposing death penalties on people who commit the crimes when they are younger than 18.

Today the Supreme Court refused to allow the treaty to be used to block Domingues' execution.

Past Supreme Court rulings have barred as unconstitutionally "cruel and unusual punishment" the execution of anyone who was under 16 when committing a crime. But the court has upheld capital punishment for killers who were 16 or 17 at the time of their crimes.

Two other Nevada cases involving teenagers charged with crimes that could have led to the death penalty raised concerns among many opponents of the death penalty earlier this year.

Their ages also would have made the international treaty a possible issue in their cases.

One case involved Sean Dixon, 19. Dixon was 16 when he was charged in the death of his father, Terry.

Sean Dixon pleaded guilty and avoided the death penalty in that case. The threat of his execution had prompted a letter-writing campaign by members of Amnesty International from around the world.

In a second case, Kenshawn Maxey, 19, faces a possible death penalty if convicted of a crime that took place when he was 17.

Maxey is charged in the May 1998 holdup at O'Aces Bar & Grill on Rainbow Boulevard that ended with the bartender and one of the bandits being killed.

Maxey is supposed to go to trial Jan. 11. Amnesty International has launched a letter-writing campaign on his behalf.

The Nevada Supreme Court ruled, by a 3-2 vote, that the treaty permits Domingues' execution. The state court noted that when President Bush proposed the treaty's ratification, he stated a "reservation" under which the United States "reserves the right ... to impose capital punishment on any person ... for crimes committed ... below 18 years of age."

The Senate ratified the treaty as presented by Bush, including that reservation.

In the appeal acted on today, Domingues' lawyer argued that the Senate was not authorized to make a reservation that had "the effect of materially altering" the treaty. The appeal also argued that private citizens should be allowed to force the government to comply with the treaty.

By upholding his death sentence, the appeal said, Nevada courts have "flouted the treaty obligations of the United States."

Clark County prosecutors urged the justices to reject Domingues' appeal, contending that his claim is "unsupportable by law or practice of the United States."

Asked for its views, the Clinton administration urged the court to reject the appeal.