Supreme Court rejects Milko appeal on burglary case

Friday, May 26, 2000 | 10:30 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court Thursday rejected the appeal of perennial political candidate Hilary Michael Milko, convicted in Las Vegas of burglary and violation of a custody order.

Milko, who has run for president, governor, Congress and mayor, was sentenced to 16 to 72 months in prison for trying to take his 3-year-old son from the North Las Vegas home of his former girlfriend Joyce Mao, despite a court order.

He is due to make his first appearance before the state Parole Board in the next two months.

Milko, through his lawyer, suggested there was not enough evidence to convict him of burglary. The evidence, the court said, showed Milko ran through the garage of Mao as she left for work about 3:30 a.m. He pushed her away as she tried to stop him from taking the child "and dragged Mao along the ground as she tried to hold onto the steering wheel of his car to stop him from leaving."

The court said, "The jury could reasonably infer from the evidence presented that appellant (Milko) entered Mao's home with the specific intent to commit the crime in violation of a custody order."

Milko claimed he had a court order giving him visitation rights but the court said that order was not file-stamped, which would have made it legal.

The court also upheld District Judge Ronald Parraguirre's decision to allow into evidence photographs of the injuries suffered by Mao and evidence of the telephone message she received from Milko and his lawyer prior to the trial.

In another ruling, the court upheld the first-degree murder conviction of Robert E. Jones, sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the shooting of a Las Vegas woman.

Jones had claimed self-defense in the shooting of Leticia Chavez in February 1998. Chavez and her estranged husband, Jose Miguel Robledo, were in a car when Jones approached. Jones claimed he thought Robledo had a gun so he opened fire and bullets hit the woman.

Jones was also convicted of attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon.

Jones, on appeal, said the conviction should be overturned because he was forced by District Judge Michael Douglas to be the first witness when the defense opened its case. The court found that the due process rights of Jones were not violated.

It said Douglas ruled correctly that Jones had to testify first so that a second witness could attest to some of the statements made by Jones prior to the trial.

The court also upheld the decision by Douglas to bar as evidence two affidavits involving temporary protection orders the victim had obtained against her estranged husband.