Court hearing Friday in old Reno death penalty case

Brendan Riley

Thursday, March 2, 2000 | 10:17 a.m.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - Jack Mazzan, whose murder conviction was canceled after he spent 20 years on death row, has a Reno court hearing Friday that could lead to his freedom - or another trial.

Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick says the hearing before District Judge Peter Breen - who handled Mazzan's original trial - was scheduled to see whether Breen will stay on the case and who will represent Mazzan.

Gammick also said there are pending motions from lawyers for Mazzan, 53, including one for a speedy trial and another to ensure the prosecution doesn't lie about the old case.

If the defense lawyers can't prove the need for the second motion, Gammick said he'll seek sanctions against them.

And if he's asked in court whether he'll seek a retrial, Gammick said, "We'll say we will go forward. We won't dump this case unless we know we're up against a wall or the evidence shows someone else did it."

Gammick added that his office is now trying to determine whether modern techniques not available 20 years ago - like DNA testing - could be utilized on old evidence.

Mazzan was sentenced to die for the 1978 murder of a Reno judge's son. But in late January the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors withheld crucial evidence in the case.

Justices didn't grant a defense request to prevent a retrial, but stated Mazzan's lawyers could make an "unfairness" argument should the district attorney's office try to revive the old case.

In oral arguments last fall, the Washoe County district attorney's office insisted that Mazzan's trial lawyer got information on the questioning of other suspects in the stabbing death of Richard Minor Jr.

But defense lawyers said they didn't get a full police report two decades ago from then-District Attorney Cal Dunlap or his chief deputy at the time, Mills Lane, on two out-of-state drug dealers with an apparent motive to kill Minor.

The files with the damning disclosures of evidence withheld by the prosecutors surfaced only a few years ago in response to a subpoena from the state public defender's office.

Minor's body was found in his apartment by his father, Richard C. Minor, a justice of the peace at the time and later a district court judge.

Mazzan insisted he had stayed at Minor's apartment the night of the murder because his car wouldn't start, and awoke to see two men who he couldn't identify leave the apartment following the killing.

Defense witnesses at Mazzan's trial testified Minor had been involved in marijuana trafficking and was feared for his safety because of a drug deal gone bad.