Third child-death conviction tossed

Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2000 | 10:06 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- For the third time this month in cases involving the deaths of Las Vegas children, and on the grounds of inaccurate jury instruction, the Nevada Supreme Court has overturned a first-degree murder conviction.

The court on Monday ordered a new trial for Thaddeus D. Alexander, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the 1996 shaking death of his 15-month old son, Andrew Sobalvarro.

The decision says District Judge Joseph Bonaventure gave a faulty instruction to the jury. Bonaventure instructed that malice is automatically present in cases of murder by child abuse.

The high court, however, said the prosecution must prove the killer acted with malice.

In the case of Alexander, the court said the jury verdict may have been different if the proper instruction had been given.

The child was admitted to the hospital showing signs of severe head trauma. The baby was diagnosed as suffering from "shaken baby syndrome" -- a nonaccidental injury to a child due to violent or intense shaking. The baby died days after being admitted to the hospital.

Alexander gave different stories to authorities on what happened to his son. First he said the boy was vomiting and then choking on medicine. He said the boy had hit his head on a coffee table and he had shaken him to re-orient him.

He later said he became angry with the boy because he would not stop playing around with a pen. He said he had shaken Andrew in frustration.

Alexander testified at trial he had shaken his son but had not meant to hurt him and the death was accidental. But he was convicted and sentenced to a life term with the possibility of parole.

The court said the record contains no evidence of prior child abuse against Andrew or violent acts by Alexander. The Supreme Court wrote:

"In this case we cannot say beyond a reasonable doubt that, absent the erroneous instruction, the jury would have found the requisite element of malice aforethought.

"We conclude that the erroneous instruction in this case rendered the jury's verdict unreliable."

Previously this month, the court reversed the first-degree murder conviction of Alica D. Wegner, operator of a Las Vegas day care center. She was convicted of murder in the death of 14-month old Kierra Harrison. It said District Judge Mark Gibbons gave the wrong jury instruction on malice.

It also voided the first-degree murder conviction of John Moxley, who was found guilty in the death of his 2-month old son in 1997 in Las Vegas.