Carson City judge blocks Pardons Board discussion of reducing Nevada death sentences to life in prison
Submitted by admin on Tue, 12/20/2022 - 9:03am
A Carson City judge on Monday blocked Gov. Steve Sisolak’s plan for a state board to consider reducing all Nevada death sentences to life without parole, saying the last-minute proposal did not offer enough advance notice to victims.
Judge James E. Wilson said that while the Nevada Pardons Board had the power to commute death penalties, he also found the proposed agenda item to be against Marsy's Law, a part of the Nevada Constitution that guarantees certain rights for victims. He said victims were entitled to at least 15 days’ notice before proceedings regarding commutation are discussed.
"The amended agenda was provided three business days before the hearing where the commutation … is going to be discussed," Wilson said.
Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks had asked the court to intervene.
"I'm very pleased with Judge Wilson's ruling. It was the right thing to do because … [the] agenda item was a violation of the Constitution and it was really an affront to victims rights," Hicks said in an interview following the hearing.
Lawyers from the attorney general's office, who had defended the item’s placement on the agenda, declined to comment.
The discussion item was set to be discussed Tuesday at the Nevada Pardons Board’s meeting. It would commute Nevada’s 57 death sentences to life without parole.
The item — which was brought to the board by Sisolak with just 15 days left in his governorship — comes after attempts to abolish the death penalty through the legislative process in 2021 failed. At the time, Sisolak announced there was “no path forward” for efforts by Democratic lawmakers to abolish capital punishment.
The failure in the Legislature — and the setback Monday — come as a blow to criminal justice reform advocates who want to see an end to the death penalty but see dimming chances of it once a Republican governor takes office.
Next month, Sisolak's seat on the Nevada Pardons Board will be taken by Republican Gov.-elect Joe Lombardo, who promised during his campaign to “reverse Sisolak’s soft-on-crime policies and put an end to his dangerous legislation that makes our streets less safe.”
“I'm thankful to Judge James Wilson for upholding the law, and I'm grateful that he protected the voter-approved constitutional rights of crime victims and their families," Lombardo said after the decision. "I'm relieved that justice has prevailed through Marsy's Law.”
On Dec. 16, two days after the proposal first appeared on a meeting agenda, Hicks said in a press release that he would be filing a formal legal challenge against the proposed agenda item because it “violates the Nevada Constitution and its relevant statutes.”
Hicks argued the elimination of the death sentences at the hands of the majority of the eight-member Nevada Pardons Board is undemocratic and unjust to victims.
“It tramples upon the fundamental rights of crime victims and disregards due process in the law,” Hicks said. “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.”
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson also filed a challenge to the discussion with the Nevada Supreme Court, although court representatives said Monday that no hearing was set for the petition.
— This story is used with permission of The Nevada Independent. Go here for updates to this and other stories.
