The Associated Press

Fri, May 16, 2008 (12:27 a.m.)

A government entity's decision made in an illegal closed-door meeting can be erased under Nevada law _ but the violation doesn't mean someone can sue for damages, the state Supreme Court said Thursday.

The high court, in ruling against a convicted sex offender who wanted to sue for damages on grounds a prison panel violated the law in evaluating him in private, said there's no provision in state law for such damages.

The ruling against Robert Stockmeier, an inmate at the Lovelock State Prison, supports a decision by District Court Judge Richard Wagner of Lovelock.

Stockmeier, serving the first of two consecutive life terms, went before a prison "psych panel" in 2002 trying to be certified that he wasn't a high risk to commit more sex crimes. He argued that certification was needed to seek a parole from one sentence to the other.

After he was denied, Stockmeier alleged an open meeting law violation by the psych panel. He won one preliminary ruling from the Supreme Court but then lost another, and filed another appeal which resulted in the high court's latest decision.