Pardons denied to three Las Vegas killers

By Cy Ryan

Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015 | 12:29 a.m.

CARSON CITY — After an emotional hearing, the state Pardons Board Monday voted 6-3 to deny the release of a Las Vegas female killer who is running up $400,000 a year in drug costs to the state prison.

Jamie Hein was convicted of second-degree murder in 2007 and was sentenced to 10 to 25 years for the killing of Timothy Herman, her aunt’s boyfriend, in 2002.

Hein’s lawyer Kristina Wildeveld told the board the state is spending more than $400,000 a year for drugs to fight the swelling on various parts of her body. Hein wants to enter a clinical trial clinic in California to try drugs not yet approved by the Federal Drug Administration.

“This is the way I could give back to society,” Hein said.

But Marc DiGiacomo, chief deputy district attorney in Clark County, argued Hein does not qualify for compassionate release. Christine Herman, the daughter of the victim, said this was a planned killing and that Hein “will do anything to get away with it.” She had to wipe away the tears while she talked to the board.

The vote to deny was 6-3 with dissents by Chief Justice James Hardesty and Justices Mark Gibbons and Michael Cherry.

The board, at an all-day meeting, also voted to deny the application for release of Robert Jones who has served 37 years of a term of life without parole. Jones, now 69, was convicted of the shooting of Rayfield Brown in September 1978 after a Las Vegas barroom fight in 1978. He was first sentenced to death but that penalty was reduced to life without the possibility of parole. Cherry and Hardesty voted against the motion to deny the release.

The board unanimously rejected the application of John Stark convicted of the death of 15-year-old Rory Sharp who was taken into the desert outside Las Vegas in 1992, hit over the head with a shovel and then shot.

The board is composed of Gov. Brian Sandoval, Attorney General Adam Laxalt and the seven Supreme Court justices.

Sandoval said to grant the plea of Hein could spark numerous other cases of inmates claiming they have an incurable disease that are costly to the state.

Interim Corrections Director E.K. McDaniel told the board that Hein’s medication cost the state $533,000 last fiscal year and it has risen every year. She receives two shots a week to quell the swelling in her hands, feet, genitals and other parts of her body.

Hein has served nine years in prison and will be eligible to apply for parole in 2017. This was the second time the board has denied the application of Hein.

Her lawyer Wildeveld said if it gets to her throat she will die. And Hein said this is something she cannot control.

But DiGiacomo said Hein spent five years trying to avoid trial. And there is no evidence that she will die at any moment, he said.

Jones said he has done everything to straighten out his life while in prison for 37 years. “I know it would not happen to me again,” he said.

Interim Director McDaniel said there have been at least four instances of infractions involving drugs and contraband during his term in the 1990s.

Stark said he had no plans to kill Sharp and he has been suffering every since. At the time, he said he was young and innocent.

But the parents of the victim asked the board to deny pardon.