Court orders murder charge reinstated in Las Vegas case

By Cy Ryan

Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014 | 4:10 p.m.

CARSON CITY — The Nevada Supreme Court has ordered a murder charge be reinstated against a Las Vegas man who claimed his defense was hurt by the destruction of handwritten notes taken by a police detective.

The court overturned the ruling of District Court Judge Jessie Elizabeth Walsh, who dismissed the murder charge against Edgar Banks.

Banks is accused of the shooting death of his neighbor Martell Smith at an apartment on South Spencer Avenue in December 2011. He believed Smith had been stealing from him, according to court documents.

Metro Police Detective Fred Merrick recorded the statements of some witnesses but took handwritten notes from others, according to court documents. Merrick said the handwritten notes were from inconsequential witnesses and did not contain material information about the case, the documents said.

Merrick said he was following Metro policy.

Defense attorneys, in pre-trial motions, asked for all the evidence in the case. When the detective could not produce his handwritten notes, Walsh ruled the state had acted in bad faith in not preserving the notes and that Banks’ defense was harmed by the destruction of the notes, according to court documents.

The Supreme Court, in a decision released Tuesday, said the handwritten notes were not material to the defense.