INFORMATION ON THE DEATH PENALTY, page 2
MAY 1st: NEVADA SENATE APPROVES DEATH PENALTY LAWYERS CHANGES
In Carson City, the Nevada Senate voted unanimously Thursday for
legislation revising standards for court-appointed defense teams in death
penalty cases, and giving all court-appointed lawyers a pay raise. MARCH 21: NEVADA ASSEMBLY PANEL OK'S DEATH ROW DNA TESTING BILL
Nevada's death row inmates would have an established procedure to
petition courts for DNA testing, under a bill approved Thursday by the
Assembly Judiciary Committee.
AB17 requires court-appointed defense for capital trials to include 2
attorneys, as well as any other needed experts. Lawyers appointed by the
court in those cases also would get a $50-an-hour pay raise, to $125.
All other court-appointed lawyers would get a raise to $100 per hour under
an amendment by Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno. AB17 also
would increase the cap on court-appointed lawyer fees to $20,000 from
$12,000 in death penalty cases.
Some counties have complained that the bill creates an unfunded mandate
and they would be unable to pay the lawyers the new fees.
The measure heads back to the Assembly, where a version without the
Raggio's broad court-appointed lawyer raise was approved 37-3.
(source: Associated Press)
AB16 establishes guidelines by which the death row inmates can petition
courts for testing of any genetic evidence not tested during or before
their trial.
The court would only order such tests if there's a "reasonable
possibility" that the petitioner wouldn't have been prosecuted or
convicted if the DNA evidence had been tested earlier and didn't connect
the person with the crime.
Inmates could appeal if their petition is denied. The bill would
primarily aid current death row inmates.
Michael Pescetta, a federal public defender specializing in the death
penalty, said that in current death penalty cases, genetic evidence is
usually tested prior to trial.
He said DNA testing was completed on all 30 Nevada death penalty cases he
was involved in. There are 85 people on the state's death row.
But he said the measure is important to guarantee genetic testing for
inmates already on death row who may have exhausted all other appeal options.
AB16 now goes to the full Assembly for its consideration.
(source: Associated Press)