Assembly examines death penalty

Terming the death penalty "the most important human rights issue of our time," a state lawmaker outlined plans Monday for major changes in Nevada's capital punishment laws.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, chaired a legislative subcommittee that examined the state's death penalty system and made 17 recommendations for changes.

Those recommendations include banning the execution of the mentally retarded and abolition of three-judge sentencing panels, in line with recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

The subcommittee's recommendations won praise from lobbyists and legislators alike at an Assembly Judiciary Committee meeting, and Judiciary Chairman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, promised extensive hearings on all death penalty measures the panel will study this session.

The first proposal heard by the committee calls for better-quality legal representation for capital case defendants.

AB17 would mandate defense teams outside the public defender's office include two attorneys, an investigator, a mitigation specialist, a forensic psychiatrist or psychologist and any other resources deemed necessary.

Michael Pescetta, a deputy federal defender who specializes in capital cases, said the need to set standards for defense counsel is overwhelming.

"With one exception, no one who has ever had a privately funded defense has ever been sentenced to death in Nevada," Pescetta told the committee.

Pescetta added that ineffective legal counsel is the most common reason cited by judges for overturning death sentence.

The bill also increases fees paid to court-appointed defense attorneys outside the public defender's office. Those fees have not been raised since 1991.

Representatives from Amnesty International, the Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty, the Nevada Women's Lobby, the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada and other groups all testified in support of the recommendations made by the interim study.

Mark Nichols, executive director of the Nevada chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, said the subcommittee's recommendations address the essential aspects of a responsible death penalty -- fairness, accuracy and equity.

Nichols also said some pro-death penalty legislators may be skeptical about the recommendations, but they're not anti-death penalty proposals. Instead, he said they're designed to make the system work.

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On the Web: www.leg.state.nv.us/72nd/Reports/