Tuesday, June 15, 2010 | 11:59 p.m.
CARSON CITY — The Nevada Supreme Court says a Las Vegas killer has no right to be paroled from his life sentence.
Ismael Santillanes was convicted of the 1984 murder of Pamela Leavitt and received two life sentences with the possibility of parole after ten years on each.
The state Parole Board granted Santillanes parole on his first sentence to begin serving his second life term. It denied him release in October 2008 and he filed suit.
The Supreme Court backed District Judge Todd Russell of Carson City who ruled the parole board was acting in its discretion and Santillanes “has not made a showing, nor can he make a showing that he has a clear, legal right to the grant of parole.”
Santillanes, now 49 years old, also asked that the parole board not be allowed to consider the severity of his crime or his criminal history. Russell said the law requires the board to look at both the seriousness of the crime and his criminal history when making a decision.
The court also rejected the petition of Ronald Ducksworth, Jr. serving a life term without the possibility of parole for the killing of Joseph Smith III and Vikki Smith in Las Vegas.
The court noted it had denied his appeal in 1997 and said he waited too long to file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
The court backed District Judge David Wall of Las Vegas, who rejected the petition of Ducksworth, now 42-years-old.
Ducksworth contended there was an improper jury instruction on premeditation and deliberation used at his trial.
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