Killer loses appeal, court upholds child porn conviction

By Cy Ryan (contact)

Friday, Sept. 25, 2009 | 5:16 p.m.

CARSON CITY – Death row inmate Rodney Emil has lost another appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court but this case involved a Las Vegas killing for which he was sentenced to two life terms in prison without the possibility of parole.

The court also upheld the conviction of Dion Fabion Casteel, found guilty of 10 counts of sexual assault of a girl under 14 and four counts of production of child pornography in Las Vegas.

Emil was convicted of the Las Vegas murder of Russ Tolley, who was shot four times in March 1983.

Tolley was supposed to have four to five pounds of marijuana to sell to Emil and Todd Leavitt. The Supreme Court said the evidence was sufficient to convict Emil of the murder.

The court said Emil’s petition was “untimely filed” because it was submitted 17 years after his first appeal was denied. It also said Emil failed to make a “colorable showing of actual innocence” to justify a reversal of the conviction.

Emil, now 48 and confined to the state prison in Ely, is on death row for the killing of his stepfather, Charles H. Emil, who was shot to death in June 1984 in a pickup truck in Las Vegas. The prosecution says the murder was to collect the life insurance on his stepfather.

In the other decision issued Friday, the court in a 2-1 ruling denied the petition of Casteel, who claimed his trial attorney was ineffective in seven instances.

Casteel, now 44 years old and serving life terms with the possibility of parole after 20 years, maintains his trial lawyer failed to call medical and psychological experts at trial and failed to interview witnesses.

The court, in an order signed by Chief Justice James Hardesty and Justice Mark Gibbons, said none of the claims by Casteel warrant relief. Justice Michael Cherry dissented without comment.

Casteel was convicted in September 2003 of sexually assaulting his live-in girlfriend’s daughter and taking lewd pictures of her.