Murder suspect pleads guilty to avoid execution

Kim Smith

Friday, June 28, 2002 | 9:26 a.m.

A Las Vegas man facing the death penalty for the slaying of an elderly woman pleaded guilty Thursday in light of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that could bar three-judge panels from sending him to death row.

Anthony Dotson, 44, was scheduled to go to trial Monday in the December 1999 beating death of Doris Bair, 79. If he had been convicted of first-degree murder, he would have had to plead for his life in front of a jury.

By pleading guilty, Dotson must now have his fate decided by a three-judge panel made up of his trial judge, District Judge Michael Cherry, and two judges selected by the Nevada Supreme Court.

On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision in Arizona v. Ring ruled that jurors, not judges, must decide what the aggravating and mitigating circumstances are in death penalty cases.

That decision, Special Public Defender Phil Kohn said, means that Nevada's three-judge panels are limited in their decision-making.

"The only thing the three-judge panel can do under the Ring case is impose life without the possibility of parole," Kohn said. "If they do vote for death, it will not be lawful under this week's decision."

District Attorney Stewart Bell, however, disagreed. Three-judge panels can sentence defendants under two different circumstances -- when a jury fails to come to a unanimous decision on the punishment and when a defendant pleads guilty.

"A fair reading of the U.S. Supreme Court decision is that Mr. Dotson has waived his right to a jury trial" and can be sentenced to death by a three-judge panel, Bell said.

Dotson pleaded guilty to a total of nine counts over the objections of Chief Deputy District Attorney David Schwartz, who wanted to take the case to trial. There are no statutes prohibiting defendants from pleading guilty without the benefit of a plea agreement if they so choose.

Kohn said he was perturbed that the Clark County district attorney's office offers plea agreements to some murder defendants and not others. The office also isn't consistent in seeking the death penalty, he said.

For example, Jose Vigoa, who was described by prosecutors as the "worst of the worst" was able to save his life by pleading guilty in a double homicide on Monday, Kohn said. Dotson wasn't even offered a deal.

"The important thing to us is that jurors should be making these decisions about life and death," Kohn said. "Clearly Anthony is accepting responsibility for his actions and there should be a procedure in place where a defendant can accept responsibility and still have a jury decide punishment."

The next step in the Dotson case is unclear.

The Nevada Supreme Court could go ahead and select the two out-of-county judges and the penalty phase could move forward as normal. Or the high court could stay Dotson's penalty hearing until it decides the constitutionality of the panel or until the Legislature takes up the issue in its next session.

The Nevada Supreme Court has already instructed the attorneys in the Donte Johnson quadruple murder case to write briefs about the three-judge panel, but a date has not yet been set for oral arguments. Johnson's appeal was to be heard Wednesday, but it was postponed after the ruling.

It is unclear whether the state's high court, which begins a new session in the fall, or the Legislature, which convenes next February, will address the issue first.

Johnson was placed on death row by a three-judge panel in connection with the 1998 slayings of four Las Vegas men after a jury split 11-1 in favor of the death penalty.

Cherry advised the attorneys in the Dotson case to write briefs on their positions for the members of the three-judge panel -- should the Nevada Supreme Court decide not to stay the proceedings.

Dotson will be sentenced on all counts but the murder count on Sept. 19. He faces two life sentences on a single kidnapping count alone.

Prosecutors allege Dotson beat Bair, 79, to death in her Bracken Avenue home on Dec. 12, 1999, and robbed and beat Kathryn Waldman, 87, five days later.

Several items were taken from Bair's home, including her 1991 Mercury, which was later found downtown.

Police have said that a day or so before Bair died, she called police to report a prowler was ringing her front doorbell and knocking on her back door. She also said that a few minutes later, the lights in her house went off, apparently the result of a circuit breaker being switched off.

Bair's body was found by police after neighbors called to report they hadn't seen her in some time.

Metro Police said Waldman had to undergo brain surgery after Dotson allegedly assaulted her and stole her car and purse in the parking lot of University Medical Center.

Prosecutors intend to tell the panel that Dotson was sentenced to 12 years in prison in California after robbing a 75-year-old woman in 1987. He ended up serving only half of his sentence.