Nevada Supreme Court reverses murder conviction

Valdez v. State - The facts of this capital case are highly unusual in that when the jury returned its verdict of guilt on the charge of first-degree murder, the foreperson announced that they had also reached a decision as to whether Valdez should receive the death penalty.  In other words, the jury decided the penalty before the penalty hearing.  The Nevada Supreme Court, in a 5-2 conviction reverses the judgment.  The opinion is authored by Justice Hardesty.  Justices Gibbons and Parraguirre dissented.pc ps2 emulator download

The Court first concludes that the district court (Judge Bonaventure) erred by failing to instruct the jury in writing, after the close of argument, that it was not to deliberate as to Valdez's possible penalty until after the sentencing hearing.pc ps2 emulator download

The Court next finds that the jury acted improperly by deliberating the penalty while deciding the issue of guilt and that the district court abused its discretion in denying a mistrial based upon this misconduct.pc ps2 emulator download

The Court next clarifies the proper harmless-error analysis for prosecutorial misconduct of constitutional and nonconstitutional dimenstion.  The Court finds that the prosecutors engaged in several instances of misconduct throughout the trial and that this misconduct contributed to the cumulative error that warrants reversal of the judgment of conviction.pc ps2 emulator download

Disclosure - I am counsel for Valdez.pc ps2 emulator download

The Court issued a third opinion today, Boucher v. Shaw.  It involves a certified question from the Ninth Circuit under NRAP 5 concerning whether under NRS 608 individual managers can be held liable as employers for unpaid wages.pc ps2 emulator download

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