Tuesday, June 7, 2005 | 11:07 a.m.
Jurors who sentenced Donte Johnson to death in May for killing four young men have received phone calls and in some cases personal visits from an investigator asking if anything improper occurred within the jury.
One of the male jurors Monday morning told the Sun he and other jury members have reported being contacted by an investigator said to be acting on behalf of prosecutors. The juror said he and the other jurors, who all remain in contact with each other, had nothing improper to report to the investigator.
Prosecutor Robert Daskas said the allegation that an investigator from the district attorney's office made such inquiries of the jurors is "completely inaccurate and incorrect."
Johnson's attorneys, Bret Whipple and Special Public Defender Alzora Jackson, would not comment on the juror's allegation or when asked if they had employed an investigator to question the jurors about improper conduct.
A source close to the case who asked to remain anonymous, however, said the defense on Monday had filed a motion under seal with District Judge Lee Gates alleging jurors acted improperly during the Johnson case.
The source said a hearing was scheduled for June 14 to address the issue.
Neither Whipple nor Jackson would comment on if they had filed such a motion.
Prior to signing the jury's verdict forms and formally sentencing Johnson to death on Monday, Gates held a roughly 25-minute closed hearing with the prosecutors and defense attorneys in chambers. Upon returning to the bench he offered no explanation as to what had transpired.
Neither side would comment as to the nature of the closed hearing.
Victim Matthew Mowen's father said he had been told a hearing was scheduled for Tuesday, but didn't know what would be addressed at it.
When told of the juror's comments as to being contacted by an investigator, Mowen said he knew it wasn't someone employed by the prosecutors and said he "wouldn't put anything past defense attorneys that are trying to raise issues on appeal."
Gates did go forward and sign the jury's verdict forms condemning Johnson to death, but also signed off on a stay of execution pending Johnson's appeal process.
Mowen said he and the other family members of the victims have been waiting 6 1/2 years for justice to be served, and Gates' signing the verdict forms simply represented "one more day" in the process.
He said he understands that because of the appeals process he doesn't "worry about the small things too much."
Johnson was sentenced to death for the 1998 murders of Mowen, 19, Jeffrey Biddle, 19, Tracey Gorringe, 20, and Peter Talamantez, 20.
The victims' families will be forced to relive the murders again at the Sept. 12 retrial of Johnson's previously convicted accomplice, Terrell Young. The Nevada Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Young because during Young's initial trial, which resulted in a life sentence without parole, District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski failed to properly deal with Young's contention that there was animosity and a lack of communication between Young and his court-appointed lawyer, Lew Wolfbrandt, in 1999.
A third accomplice, 23-year-old Sikia Smith, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for his role in the murders.
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