Nevada lawyers arguing in nation’s high court

Wednesday, March 29, 2000 | 10:21 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Two Nevada lawyers were set to square off again today in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, which is using a Nevada case to sharpen its rulings on the ability of inmates to appeal their cases.

Las Vegas federal public defender Michael Pescetta will argue that the courts have unfairly denied hearing the federal appeals of Antonio Slack, convicted of second-degree murder in 1990 and now in a Nevada state prison.

Nevada Chief Deputy Attorney General David Sarnowski will argue the state's case that Slack cannot appeal the federal court's dismissal of his case.

"It is wasteful of the state's resources to allow prisoners to repeatedly file (appeals) petitions that are not resolved expeditiously," Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said in a written statement.

Slack received two consectutive sentences of five years to life imprisonment in 1990 for killing 12-year-old Alanna Holmes. He said the North Las Vegas shooting was accidental.

He launched a complicated series of appeals that landed in the nation's highest court in October 1999, when Sarnowski and Pescetta outlined their arguments. In a somewhat unusual move, the court ordered the two Nevada attorneys back for an hour of further arguments before the court's nine justices made a decision.