Assembly OKs bills limiting death penalty

Erin Neff

Tuesday, April 1, 2003 | 9:37 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Assembly gave overwhelming support Monday to three measures that take steps to reform Nevada's death penalty by limiting who can be executed and by giving defense attorneys some additional tools for the courtroom.

Assembly Bill 15, introduced on behalf of an interim legislative committee that studied the death penalty, bans the execution of those deemed mentally retarded by the court.

All three measures now go to the Senate for consideration.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, chairwoman of the interim committee, said AB15 puts Nevada in "an excellent position" to avoid having its statute overturned as a result of last fall's U.S. Supreme Court opinion barring the execution of the mentally retarded.

Leslie sponsored a bill banning the execution of the mentally retarded in 2001. She said the unanimous vote this time around signals a sea change in state lawmakers' opinions about the issue.

"I think it reflects the evolving opinion of Nevadans and the nation about how the death penalty can be applied fairly and appropriately," Leslie said.

The Assembly passed both AB15 and Assembly Bill 14, which contains procedural changes for defense attorneys, unanimously.

AB14, also introduced on behalf of the interim committee, adds a new mitigating factor -- that the defendant suffers from mental illness -- to those a jury can consider in deciding the penalty.

AB14 also gives the defense the last argument in the sentencing phase of death penalty trials. Currently the prosecution begins the closing argument and has a rebuttal after the defense attorney argues. The bill would let the defense address the jury a second time, after the prosecutors.

The third bill approved by the Assembly on Monday prohibits the execution of those who were younger than 18 at the time of their crime.

Assembly Bill 118, sponsored by Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, prohibits a death sentence for those who were 16 or 17 at the time of their crime. Instead such defendants would face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The bill is retroactive, so it would commute the death sentence of Michael Domingues, the only inmate on Nevada's death row who was under 18 at the time of his crime. Domingues was 16 in 1993 when he killed his Las Vegas neighbor and her 4-year-old son.

Six Republicans voted against AB118, including Don Gustavson, R-Sun Valley, who voted for the measure in the Judiciary Committee last week.

Gustavson was joined in his opposition by Walter Andonov, R-Henderson, Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, Dawn Gibbons, R-Reno, Ron Knecht, R-Carson City, and John Marvel, R-Battle Mountain.

Andonov said he opposed the bill because "I really do think that there are some crimes that are adult crimes."

Last April Andonov and his fiancee were victimized in an attempted home invasion robbery in which suspects -- later determined to be 14 to 17 -- held the couple at gunpoint.

"It's no exaggeration to say we were a hair's breadth away from being murdered," Andonov said. "That makes me think very carefully about the death penalty in these cases."