Nevada won’t halt executions of mentally retarded

Tuesday, May 22, 2001 | 10:31 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A bill that would have stopped the execution of convicted murderers who are diagnosed as mentally retarded has fallen by the wayside.

Assembly Bill 353 died in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday without a vote.

Michael Pescetta, an assistant federal public defender and an expert in handling capital punishment appeals, told the committee that executing mentally retarded persons is wrong.

The majority of states with capital punishment laws have a prohibition against putting a mentally retarded person to death, he said.

AB353 set the procedural steps for a person charged with first-degree murder to be declared mentally retarded. The court would hold a hearing, and the burden of proof would be on the defendant.

The defendant would be presumed mentally retarded if his intelligence quotient was 70 or lower.

The Senate Judiciary Committee earlier in the session voted out a bill that imposed a two-year moratorium on executions while a study into the fairness of capital punishment is conducted. That bill was pushed by Committee Chairman Mark James, R-Las Vegas.

The moratorium bill failed to make it out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

James said his bill provided "the most enlightened approach," since it studied the issue while a moratorium was in place.

After his remarks he ended discussion and moved to the next bill on the agenda without taking a vote. Monday was the final day for a Senate committee to vote out Assembly bills.

The Assembly Committee on Elections, Procedures and Ethics, which meets today, may opt for a study that focuses on the death penalty.

Capital punishment opponents scored one victory Monday, as the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Assembly Bill 327, which gives the defense the last chance to address a jury in a death penalty case.

The prosecution currently opens with its arguments, the defense then makes its statement and the district attorney's office finishes. Under AB327 the defense lawyers would have the final say before the jury.

The vote was 5-2 with Sens. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, and Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, dissenting.

Pescetta told the committee that most states allow the defense to argue last.

McGinness suggested the issue be studied for two years, but it was not put to a vote.