Judge reverses decision on juvenile records

Tuesday, May 4, 2004 | 10:07 a.m.

District Judge Lee Gates on Monday ordered that the juvenile records of a man convicted of killing four men in a 1998 execution-style shooting can be used in his new penalty phase.

The order reverses the decision Gates made last week in the quadruple murder case against 24-year-old Donte Johnson, as defense attorneys and prosecutors continued to argue about what evidence will be allowed.

The Nevada Supreme Court ordered a new death-penalty phase for Johnson after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that only a jury may impose the death penalty. A three-judge panel had sentenced Johnson to death after the original jury could not agree on a penalty.

Special Public Defender Alzora Jackson requested a May 17 evidentiary hearing in order for Gates to rule on whether two other violent acts allegedly committed by Johnson should be admitted.

One of the acts prosecutors want considered is the alleged attempted murder of another prison inmate, Oscar Irias, whom Johnson allegedly threw over a balcony. Prosecutors dropped the charges against Johnson after his codefendant, Reginald Johnson, pleaded guilty to the attack and took full responsibility. The two men are unrelated.

In the second incident, Donte Johnson entered an Alford plea, the equivalent of a no-contest plea, for the attempted murder of Derrick Simpson. With an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges the state could prove its case against him. Johnson was already on death row for the deaths of Matthew Mowen, 19; Jeffrey Biddle, 19; Tracey Gorringe, 20; and Peter Talamantez, 20; when prosecutors charged him with shooting Simpson.

The May 1998 shooting left Simpson a quadriplegic and he died a few years after the shooting from infections resulting from the gun-shot wounds, prosecutors said. They now want to include Simpson's death in the new death penalty hearing.

Special Public Defender Alzora Jackson questioned the autopsy report and argued that Simpson had died from other health complications and not from the shooting. Gates granted her time to review Simpson's medical records, postponing the penalty hearing scheduled for May 18 to a yet undecided date later this summer or fall.

Gates is scheduled to make his final rulings on what evidence will be admitted May 17.