Former cop’s start of prison term delayed

Kim Smith

Thursday, Jan. 6, 2000 | 10:04 a.m.

Christopher Brady, the former Metro Police officer sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in the racially motivated death of a Hispanic Las Vegas man, won't be reporting to prison today as originally planned.

U.S. District Judge Philip Pro agreed to give Brady until Feb. 4 to report to prison after Brady's defense attorney and prosecutors agreed he needed more time to make travel arrangements.

According to the order signed by Pro Dec. 30 and filed Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons didn't designate a prison for Brady until Dec. 24, so he didn't have time to make arrangements.

The order doesn't specify where Brady will serve his sentence, but Bureau of Prison officials have said he won't be imprisoned in Nevada because of safety concerns and his former status as a police officer.

Brady and his partner, Ron Mortensen, went out in the early morning hours of Dec. 28, 1996, to harass Hispanics. The two men were off-duty at the time.

Daniel Mendoza, 21, died of a gunshot wound to the chest when Mortensen fired a weapon from the vehicle Brady was driving. Mortensen, who contends Brady was the gunman, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in an out-of-state prison.

Brady pleaded guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to violate the fair housing and equal property rights of Hispanic residents of Las Vegas. He was sentenced in November.

Pro also ordered Brady to pay $6,000 in restitution, serve five years supervised release and perform 150 hours of community service. Brady will have to serve at least seven and one-half years of his sentence before being eligible for release.