Motion for new trial denied for killer of four

Kim Smith

Thursday, July 13, 2000 | 11:13 a.m.

Convicted four-time killer Donte Johnson's hopes were dashed this morning when District Judge Jeffrey Sobel denied a defense motion for a new trial based on alleged juror misconduct.

Sobel denied the motion without comment.

Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder in connection with an August 1998 residential robbery that ended in the deaths of four young men. However, the jurors could not reach a unanimous decision as to whether Johnson deserved the death penalty.

In Nevada, three-judge panels are supposed to determine the fate of capital murder defendants when juries are unable to decide, but Johnson's attorneys are now attacking the constitutionality of such panels.

Deputy Special Public Defender Dayvid Figler filed a motion for a new trial, arguing that during discussions with the jurors after the trial, two jurors mentioned that the TV news had erroneously reported that a woman juror was the one who couldn't decide on Johnson's sentence.

Jurors are admonished not to watch TV or read newspaper coverage of the trial because it may affect their deliberations. Figler said that for that reason, Johnson deserves a new trial.

In addition, one of the same jurors also said she had become frightened of a black man she encountered carrying a duffle bag in an elevator during the trial. She saw him on the same day the jurors heard testimony that Johnson and his co-defendants, who are all black, had left for their victims' house carrying a duffle bag.

Deputy District Attorney Robert Daskas, in response to Figler's motion, said that the incidents involving the jurors are "insufficient to constitute misconduct" and are not grounds for a new trial.