Washoe County District Attorney’s office files legal challenge against Governor’s proposed Death Row sentence reduction
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Sat, 12/17/2022 - 11:05am
According to a statement released by Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks, his office has filed a formal legal challenge against Gov. Steve Sisolak’s addition to an upcoming Nevada Pardons Board Meeting.
According to Hicks, Sisolak added an item to the Pardons Board agenda, which asks the board to consider the commutation of all Nevada prisoners, currently 57 in total, who have been sentenced to death.
If the Pardons Board agrees to the commutation, all inmates will be taken off death row and instead sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Of the 57 cases, ten took place within Washoe County, ranging from 1979 to 2010.
Since 1976, 12 executions have taken place in Nevada, the last of which in 2006.
Of the current cases, two took place in Carson City and Lyon County, which includes William B. Leonard, sentenced in 1987; and Jeremiah Bean, sentenced in 2015.
Leonard was sentenced to the death penalty in 1987 after he was convicted fo killing another inmate at the Nevada State Prison. The victim, Joseph Wright, was stabbed 31 times, and Leonard allegedly had “a smile on his face” when guards took him into custody for the killing.
Bean was convinced of killing five Lyon County residents over the course of 3 days in May, 2013.
High profile Washoe County cases include:
- James Biela, the convicted killer of 19-year-old Brianna Dennison in 2008
- David Stephen Middleton, known as “The Cable Guy,” was convicted of two murders, rape, and was suspected to have committed more crimes for which he was never convicted
- Tracy Petrocelli, convicted in 1982 of shooting a Reno used car salesman, one of three killings he allegedly committed over the course of six months
- Cary Williams, convicted of killing a pregnant nurse in her home during a robbery by stabbing her 38 times
- David A. Bollinger, convicted in 1994 of beating a Reno couple to death in their motorhome before setting fire to their bodies at a rest-stop in Rifle, Colo.
- Carlos Guiterrez, whose case is listed as “pending”, convicted of torturing his 3-year-old stepdaughter to death in 1995
- Siaosi Vanisi, convicted in 1999 of killing a University of Nevada, Reno police officer with a hatchet
- Robert Lee McConnell, convicted in 2003 of shooting the boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend before kidnapping and raping her and forcing her to drive them to San Mateo, Calif.
- Tamir Hamilton, convicted in 2008 of the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl who he left in her bed for her mother to find with her head “nearly severed” from her body
Hicks believes the question of commutation for these killers in the manner through the Parole Board “tramples” upon the law.
“The Governor’s last-minute requested agenda item violates Nevada’s Constitution and its relevant statutes,” Hicks said. “Moreover, it tramples upon the fundamental rights of crime victims and disregards due process in the law. Most importantly, the timing and nature of the added agenda item is an insult to those deceased victims who were tortured, raped, and slayed at the hands of the 57 heinous men on Nevada’s Death Row.”
Hicks further went on to say that the time and place to discuss the death penalty in Nevada is during legislative sessions.
“There is a democratic process to debate and consider issues related to the death penalty. It has happened multiple times during past legislative sessions in Nevada. However, the proposed categorical elimination of 57 death sentences by a mere majority of an 8-member public body is unjust and undemocratic.”
Nevada Pardons Board hearings allow public comment and an email contact of info@parole.nv.gov
