Judges’ panel rejects guilty plea in murder of woman, 79

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2002 | 9:24 a.m.

A Las Vegas man who voluntarily entered a guilty plea in the December 1999 beating death of 79-year-old Doris Bair is now scheduled to go to trial after a three-judge panel refused to take the plea.

Anthony Dotson, 44, appeared Tuesday before District Judge Michael Cherry and two judges selected by the Nevada Supreme Court who were scheduled to determine if his penalty would be life without the possibility of parole or death.

Instead, the judges questioned Dotson, asking him if he waived his right to a jury trial, in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that states juries -- not judges -- must decide what the aggravating and mitigating circumstances are in a death penalty case.

"I waived the right to a jury to determine my guilt, but not to a jury to determine my penalty," Dotson told the panel, which also included Judges Jerry Sullivan of Winnemucca and Steven Dobrescu of Ely.

The panel set the trial date for March 24, despite the objections of Special Public Defender Daren Richards, who questioned the panel's authority to ask Dotson about his plea. Richards said he plans to appeal the decision.

"This is an unprecedented development, and in our legal opinion the judges didn't have the authority to do what they did," Richards said. "Our client wants to plead guilty, but the problem is the three-judge panel is wrong.

"The way the three-judge panel is set up in Nevada is unconstitutional. It takes responsibility from the jury and gives it to the judge."

Cherry, who was Dotson's trial judge, said that he neglected to ask the defendant if he was waiving his right to a jury in the penalty phase when the plea was originally accepted. Dotson entered the plea two days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that juries must be the determiners of the death penalty.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Schwartz said the ruling is at odds with Nevada statutes.

"If you plead guilty (to) first-degree murder our laws say you go to a three-judge panel," Schwartz said. "He (Dotson) is saying that he didn't verbally waive his right to a jury when he pled guilty."

Prosecutors allege Dotson beat Bair to death in her Huntridge home on Dec. 12, 1999, and robbed and beat Kathryn Waldman, 87, five days later. Bair's body was found by police after neighbors called to report that they hadn't seen her in some time.