Schieck finally gets shot at office he helped create

By Matt Pordum

Tuesday, June 15, 2004 | 9:12 a.m.

Clark County's new special public defender, the person responsible for overseeing the defense of most of the people who are facing the death penalty in the county, has been preparing for his new job since the position was created.

Las Vegas lawyer David Schieck was part of the committee that created the office in 1997. Then he watched the handling of the job by Michael Cherry, now a District Court judge, from May 7, 1997, to Jan. 3, 1999, followed by Phil Kohn from Jan. 4, 1999, to April 6, 2004.

Now Schieck says he is ready to further the efforts of the office he had a hand in creating.

Schieck's appointment to the position was expected to be ratified at today's Clark County board meeting.

The special public defender's office handles the majority of the death penalty cases, cases involving juveniles charged with murder as well as murder cases in which there are conflicts for the public defender's office.

Clark County Manager Thom Reilly said one needs to look no further than Schieck's experience to know he was the best choice for the position.

"Over the past 10 years, David has served on committees that deal specifically with the indigent defense of murder cases in Clark County," Reilly said. "When you couple that expertise with his extensive experience in murder trials, appeals and post-conviction proceedings, it's clear that David (Schieck) is the best choice for the post."

Schieck, who has his own law office and has been a practicing lawyer since 1982, said the biggest challenge the special public defender's office faces is a tight budget.

The office's current budget is $1.89 million. In the fiscal year starting July 1, the budget will be $2.14 million.

In 1997, the first year of the office, its budget was $1 million and it handled 36 cases. Since 1997 the office has processed 196 homicide cases.

Currently, the office has 46 homicide cases, which include 11 capital murder cases. The office also has 162 family defense project cases -- cases in which the special public defender's office represents indigent parents whose children have been removed from their custody.

"We have the same challenges that are facing all county agencies: our budget," Schieck said. "We'd all like to have two or three more bodies in here. But I understand the district attorney's office thinks they could use more people, too, as does Phil Kohn in the public defender's office. We only have 17 (lawyers) and they (public defender) have 300. Of course, we both could use bigger budgets to do a better job. As the county grows, so does the amount of cases."

While more money would enable the Schieck's lawyers to spend more time with clients, the office can't allow monetary constraints to interfere with the office's most important task, he said.

"Communicating with the client is extremely important," Schieck said. "Not criticizing anyone in the department, as we have some very fine attorneys, but I just feel that communicating with the client is the most important thing our attorneys can do. It's not easy, because when you take the time to visit a client in prison or jail, there is probably research to do and calls to make back at the office."

Public defenders in Clark County have been criticized for taking fewer cases to trial than their peers in other cities, but Schieck said plea bargains aren't necessarily a bad thing for defendants, and don't mean public defenders are less effective, he said.

"We have to make sure every defendant gets the most effective representation possible, and if that means negotiating with prosecutors instead of having them go to trial and being found guilty, then that's what should be done," Schieck said.

Schieck's predecessors, Cherry and Kohn, agreed that dealing with the stress of being understaffed with a daily load of demanding cases will be Schieck's greatest challenge.

"It's a really tough job because every case is so difficult," Cherry said. "There is never an easy murder case. To keep the morale up is difficult.

"You find your victories in unusual places, such as saving the life of someone on death row, or getting a defendant life with the possibility of parole when they were facing life in prison without the possibility of parole. Sometimes victories came when we'd plead to lesser charges."

Cherry said Schieck will have to constantly monitor the stress level of not just the lawyers working in the office but also the clerical and investigative staff.

Kohn said Schieck "has got a great office with great employees."

"He needs to realize that it will take time to get caught up because there are going to be appeals that need to be dealt with as soon as he starts," Kohn said.

Although a bigger budget would alleviate stress and ranks highest on Schieck's wish list, he believes there are other things the state Legislature needs to do for special public defenders as well, clarifications that are needed in the wake of recent rulings made by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The high court in 2002 ruled that only a jury could impose the death penalty, a ruling that affected six states including Nevada.

"Some parameters were put in place as to how to handle the doing away with the three-judge panels to decide death penalty sentences, but some people who were already sentenced by the panels are still facing death. We need to determine how every case is handled," he said. "We need to decide if this will be retroactive and, if so, how far back it goes."

Additionally, Schieck would like some guidance from state lawmakers on dealing with a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that people charged with murder would not face a death sentence if they have an IQ of 70 or lower.

"The U.S. Supreme Court ruled you can cannot execute a person with an IQ less than 70, but we have no existing standards to use to determine that," Schieck said. "For that ruling to do what it was intended for, we need guidance."

Schieck also said he was concerned with Nevada's treatment of juveniles, specifically how state law requires anyone over 8 years old charged with murder or attempted murder to be treated as an adult, another area where he believes legislative intervention could remedy the situation.

"Phil (Kohn) has done a tremendous job at championing that issue," Schieck said. "I have kids, and to say a child is as culpable as adults is a major problem. I believe that the punishment should fit the crime, but I feel we are cutting off our nose to spite our face on treating kids as adults.

"You have to be 16 in Nevada to be sentenced to death. I think it should be closer to 18 or 21. Kids don't have the mental culpability to be treated as adults."