Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011 | 2:05 a.m.
CARSON CITY — The Nevada Supreme Court has denied a petition by Mickey Thomas of Henderson to have a murder charge dismissed.
The court said its intervention at this point in the case is not warranted.
Thomas, through his lawyers, sought a writ of mandamus or prohibition to force dismissal of the murder charge and to preclude the Clark County district attorney’s office from seeking the death penalty.
Trial is set for March 14 for Thomas who is accused, with two teenage girls, of beating Wesley Roberts, 82, in 2009. Roberts was taken to the hospital and then to a rehabilitation center, where he died.
The prosecution says Roberts was injured during a “trick role” that turned into robbery.
Defense lawyers say Roberts lured underage girls into his home and that there were no weapons used during the crime. They say Roberts was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries and recovered before he was transferred to the Harmon Rehabilitation Center.
Their brief to the Nevada Supreme Court said Roberts was dropped twice at the rehabilitation center, inadequately monitored and improperly medicated.
The cause of death was heart failure, Thomas’ defense asserts.
The defense maintains that the grand jury was not told of the proximate cause of death nor was exculpatory evidence presented to show the contributing factors leading to the death.
The Supreme Court also rejected a defense argument that the district attorney’s office was too late in filing its notice to seek the death penalty.
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