Nevada tops U.S. in rate of death penalties

Birusk Tugan

Wednesday, June 14, 2000 | 11:36 a.m.

Nevada has the highest death-penalty rate in the country, condemning nearly 11 people for every 100,000 in population, according to the Columbia University law school study that has reheated the death penalty controversy.

A spokesman for Gov. Kenny Guinn, however, said Tuesday that despite the study results, the governor does not intend to impose a death-penalty moratorium.

That decision was in response to a request by Las Vegas attorney JoNell Thomas, who asked Guinn for a moratorium, if not a total abolishment of the death penalty. Thomas represents John Mazzan, a Reno man who was set free on May 7 after spending 20 years on death row.

Nevada's death-penalty rate "is striking," said Prof. James Liebman, who led the team conducting the survey. "Not only does it lead the nation, but it also is strikingly higher than the closest state."

He said this morning that seven out of 10 Nevada cases fully reviewed by state and federal courts are overturned for egregious errors. He also noted that Nevada carries out only one out of 20 death penalties that it imposes.

"The numbers speak for themselves. The system is not successful," Liebman said.

Thomas, a member of the Nevada Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union, said her case is an example of why Guinn should abolish the death penalty, or follow the lead of Illinois and halt all executions until a detailed review of all 86 people on death row in the state is conducted.

The university study, titled "A Broken System: Error Rates in Capital Cases," and published on Monday, reviewed all 4,578 appeals filed between 1973 and 1995. The U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1973 and the first death sentenced was handed out in 1975. Since then courts have condemned 5,760 people to death.

Liebman, a professor of law who has served as a defense lawyer in a number of death penalty trials and appeals, researched Nevada statistics from 1977 when the state reinstated the death penalty.

The survey found that Nevada's death-penalty rate is about three times higher than the average among 28 states studied out of the 34 states that allow capital punishment. A total of 108 people were sentenced to death in Nevada, with five being executed between 1975-1995. Three more people have been executed since 1995. Since 1905, 50 people have been executed in the state.

According to the research, 96 death row inmates appealed their cases in Nevada. State appellate courts found errors in 34 of those cases and reversed them. During the same period federal courts reviewed four Nevada cases and overturned two.

"Nevada is right at the national average," said Liebman. According to the survey, two out of three cases that were fully reviewed by state or federal courts were thrown out due to judicial errors.

The study concluded that the American death penalty system is "collapsing under the weight of its own mistakes."

"I also know the stories behind these numbers in Nevada. Look at the Mazzan case, look at the Jimenez case," Liebman said.

The Mazzan case, he said, illustrates that the court system cannot always protect innocent people.

Mazzan, 53, was released on $100,000 bail on May 7 when he won a new trial after living on death row for 20 years.

He might become a completely free man on Friday if a Reno District Court judge accepts a motion filed by Thomas, who is asking for dismissal of the first-degree murder charge against her client.

Thomas said Tuesday that Mazzan is scheduled for retrial in July. But she said a new trial is impossible because too much time has elapsed since he was convicted.

The Nevada Supreme Court in January ordered a new trial for Mazzan after concluding that Washoe County prosecutors at his 1979 trial witheld evidence that could have led to his acquittal in the drug-related death of a local judge's son.

With that in mind, Guinn should abolish the death penalty, or at least follow Illinois Gov. George Ryan and put all executions on hold for a review, Thomas said.

Commenting on the Columbia University's report on Tuesday, Finn said that "there are no indications that there are flaws in the Nevada system."

After the Illinois moratorium in March, Guinn said, "We'll watch what happens in Illinois, and if we learn something from their experience, we can take a look at the issue here in Nevada."

Such a review is not on the agenda, according to Finn, who said that the governor's office will review each case independently of the State Attorney General's Office.

Thomas, a member of the Nevada Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the survey proves Guinn's stance is wrong.

Currently, there are 85 men and one woman on death row in Nevada, according to the state Department of Prisons. The woman is Priscilla Ford, who was sentenced to death for killing six people in Reno by driving her car on a crowded sidewalk. The last execution -- the only one during Guinn's term -- was on April 5, 1999. Alvaro Calambro was given a lethal injection for the murder of two Reno U-Haul employees during a robbery in January 1994.

In addition to Mazzan, three Nevada death-row inmates won reversals of their convictions and have been released from prison in the past seven years. Robert Miranda, Victor Jimenez and Dewayne Stevens are out of prison after being granted new trails and striking deals with prosecutors that resulted in their release.

State officials hope that the adoption of new techniques by the judicial system will prevent such mistakes. Prisons Director Jackie Crawford said that DNA sampling, for example, will help achieve fair trials.

The death penalty is a deterrent for the person who receives it, said Crawford, emphasizing the rights of the victims. "Victims have rights and we have to respect them."