Lawyer can look for Supreme Court ruling mistake, judge says

Kim Smith

Wednesday, March 29, 2000 | 11:35 a.m.

A District Court judge is giving a local defense attorney the chance to prove that the Nevada Supreme Court made a mistake during an appellate hearing in a death penalty case.

Although District Judge Sally Loehrer can't overrule any ruling made by the court, she told attorney Anthony Sgro Tuesday she is interested in any legal precedents he might be able to find to bolster his opinion in the Wilbert Emory Leslie case.

Leslie, 25, was sentenced to death in April 1996 for the 1994 shooting death of Nellis Air Force Base Sgt. William Prewitt. Prewitt had been working at a 7-Eleven store on Nellis Boulevard to save up money for his upcoming military retirement.

The Nevada Supreme Court upheld Leslie's conviction and sentence, although the judges did toss out one of the aggravating factors jurors used to sentence him to death.

Sgro contends that because the court ruled out one of the aggravating factors, they should have sent the case back to Clark County so the punishment phase of the trial could be re-heard. Another jury, he argued, might find Leslie doesn't deserve the death penalty.

Instead of ruling on the motion during a hearing Tuesday, Loehrer instructed Sgro to try to find any instances in which a state Supreme Court has apparently made an error.

Loehrer said she would hear additional arguments on the matter in July, but noted Sgro might end up having to take his case to U.S. District Court.

Sgro also argued Tuesday that Leslie should get a new trial because his former attorney failed to put a key witness on the stand. That witness, known as "Big Dave," would have been able to illustrate for the jury that an important prosecution witness was a liar, Sgro said.

Big Dave would have testified that Rhesa Gamble was not Leslie's girlfriend as she claimed, Sgro said.

His testimony would have helped a great deal because there were four or five other defense witnesses who testified Leslie was at a baseball game at the time of the murder, Sgro said.

"It would've been a credibility contest between Rhesa Gamble and Big Dave," Sgro said.

Deputy District Attorney Leon Simon argued, however, that the jury didn't convict Leslie on Gamble's testimony alone. Several other witnesses placed Leslie at the convenience store.

Kim Smith covers courts for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-2321 or by e-mail at kimberly@lasvegassun.com