Supreme Court sends two cases back over prosecutor violations of plea bargains

The Nevada Supreme Court has sent two different criminal cases back to district court because the prosecutors violated plea bargain deals.

Harold Nelson Dehner will get a new sentencing hearing with a different judge because of comments by the Clark County prosecutor which the court agreed were an attempt to get the judge to impose a harsher sentence than the agreement called for. Dehner received up to seven years in prison and lifetime supervision.

According to the Supreme Court order, the state agreed not to make any recommendations at sentencing, but made comments that "went well beyond the limits" permitted in case law. The court ordered a new sentencing hearing before a different Clark County District Judge.

The court made a similar ruling in the case of Carlos Bautista-Mora, who was sentenced to one to four years for possession of a controlled substance in Nye County.

Prosecutors agreed not to oppose a diversion program that would eventually allow Mora to clear his criminal record. But when asked to explain the recommendation, the prosecutor told the court it was only because the deputy who negotiated the deal wasn't there to explain why Mora shouldn't get diversion.

The high court concluded the Nye County district attorney's office "breached the spirit of the plea agreement" and failed to give an accurate picture of why the plea bargain was made. He too will be resentenced by a new judge.