Ruling could change fate of 13 Nevadans

Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2003 | 9:29 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Thirteen Nevada inmates on death row -- 10 of them from Clark County -- could receive new sentencing hearings or a reduced term under a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday, according to the state attorney general's office.

But Deputy Attorney General David Neidert said he expected the Circuit Court ruling to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for a final decision. In the meantime the status of those 13 facing the death penalty would not be affected.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that juries, not judges, must decide on the death penalty in capital murder cases, but the court did not rule whether its decision was retroactive.

The 9th Circuit Tuesday ruled the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court was retroactive and more than 100 inmates in Arizona, Idaho and Montana should have their sentences commuted to life in prison without parole.

Neidert said the Circuit Court decision conflicts with a ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and with the Nevada Supreme Court, which last November said the ruling was not retroactive.

He said the Arizona attorney general has 90 days to seek an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and four of the nine justices must decide to accept the case. He said he thinks Arizona will appeal the ruling.

Nevada had a system where an inmate who pleaded guilty would have a penalty hearing before a three-judge panel. That was changed by the Legislature to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. A jury will now be impaneled to decide the sentence in pleas of guilty to murder where the death penalty is sought.

If a jury is unable to reach a decision in a death penalty case, the district judge who presided will sentence the defendant to life in prison without possibility of parole or impanel a new jury.

Neidert said none of those on death row in Nevada are near execution. He said there probably would be no immediate action to give the 13 new penalty hearings before a jury or reduce their sentence. That will come if the U.S. Supreme Court decides on the retroactive issue.

One of the inmates that could receive a new penalty hearing is Edward Wilson, who has been on death row the longest of anyone since December 1979 for the killing of an undercover police agent in Washoe County.

Inmates from Clark County, who may get new penalty hearings or a life sentence, and their sentencing dates are James E. Hill, Aug. 22, 1983; Robert Farmer, May 11, 1984; Edward Beets, Nov. 7, 1989; Jimmy Kirksey, Jan. 12, 1990; Timothy Redmen, Nov. 19, 1990; Daniel Jones, Dec. 6, 1990; Frederick Paine, Dec. 11, 1990. David Riker, April 7, 1994; Lawrence Colwell, Aug. 8, 1995; and Antoine Williams March 20, 1996.