Panel OKs death penalty reform

Erin Neff

Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2003 | 10:55 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Bills banning the executions of mentally retarded criminals and bolstering the defense in capital cases won unanimous approval from the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

The proposed reforms -- Assembly Bills 15 and 17 -- now will face tougher audiences who have long opposed changing Nevada's capital punishment system.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, chairwoman for an interim study of the death penalty, said she thought the judiciary committee's modification of the two bills was evidence of the effort to balance testimony with a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court opinion banning the execution of the mentally retarded.

"The committee took a great deal of time to process a bill that meets the objectives of the interim study, the Supreme Court decision and fully takes into account the concerns of the prosecutor," said Leslie, who in 2001 had sponsored an unsuccessful bill to ban execution of the mentally retarded. "The unanimous vote bodes well for a strong vote by the full Assembly, and hopefully a good reception in the Senate."

Leslie's 2001 bill banning the execution of the mentally retarded was supported by Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins,D-Henderson, who is also a Henderson deputy police chief.

The measure died in a Senate committee when a Republican senator opted instead to seek a moratorium on the death penalty pending a study of alleged problems. That moratorium failed largely due to opposition from Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, and a former Washoe County district attorney.

Leslie said she thinks the Supreme Court mandate, coupled with changing moods will make the outcome different this session.

AB15, as amended changes the definition of mentally-retarded to mean "significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the development period."

Removed from the bill was the presumption of retardation when a defendant has an IQ of 70 or below. Lawmakers said an IQ of 70 is the general threshold at which people are considered retarded, but the score itself isn't the only factor in a diagnosis.

Aside from intellectual capacity, doctors look at how well people function in and understand their environment, and when their adaptive behavior and intellectual shortcomings began.

The biggest point of contention among committee members dealt with the examination of the defendant by experts.

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, who is a lawyer, sided with the bill's provision that the defendant must undergo an exam by an expert selected by the prosecution.

Assemblyman David Brown, R-Henderson, also a lawyer, argued that an amendment sought by Clark County prosecutor Clark Peterson was preferable. That amendment required the court to appoint the experts, similar to the way competency hearings are handled.

Buckley won out arguing that the first option is truer to the adversarial trial system and allows both the defense and prosecution to "take their best shot."

AB17 was also recommended by the interim study, which said it was needed to decrease the number of cases overturned on appeal due to incompetent counsel.

The bill calls for 67 percent increases in the fees for defense counsel in all cases of first-degree murder. Counties would have to pay those $125 per hour instead of $75 per hour.

The bill also requires a court-appointed defense team for capital trials. The team must include two attorneys, as well as any other experts needed to aid in the defense.

Both bills are awaiting action on the Assembly floor.

Additional reforms, including elimination of three-judge panels and changes to the list of aggravators and mitigators, will be discussed in a future work session of the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

That committee will also hear testimony on Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani's bill to ban the death penalty for those 16 and 17. Giunchigliani is a Democrat from Las Vegas who unsuccessfully advocated for the same bill in 2001.