Ex-cop denied murder retrial

An attempt to win a new trial for former Metro Police officer Ron Mortensen was rejected today without explanation by District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski.

Mortensen will now be sent back to a prison cell where he is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the drive-by shooting death of 21-year-old Daniel Mendoza on Dec. 28, 1996.

Defense attorney Frank Cremen said he would be appealing Pavlikowski's ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court and probably would simply add it to the pending appeal of Mortensen's first-degree murder conviction.

Mortensen showed no emotion, but the ruling disappointed some of his supporters in the audience. Metro homicide detectives, who have been targets in the 32-year-old killer's moves for a new trial, also watched the proceedings.

The court motion was based on latest defense theory that a third gun -- larger than either pistol carried by Mortensen or his buddy, fellow Metro Officer Christopher Brady -- was responsible for Mendoza's death.

Another issue for the judge was whether a new trial was warranted because of recently revealed statements attributed to Brady about wanting to commit a drive-by shooting.

At Mortensen's trial last year, the jury rejected his claim that Brady was the actual gunman, choosing to pick up Mortensen's .380 semi-automatic pistol to fire the fatal shot rather than use his own .38-caliber revolver.

Mortensen's attorney, Frank Cremen, argued during a hotly contested hearing Friday that he didn't have access before the trial to notes from a Metro firearms expert who expressed concerns that the bullet wound was larger than what would be consistent with the purported murder weapon.

The notes from Torrey Johnson also indicated curiosity that the fatal bullet passed through Mendoza's body because Johnson generally didn't consider .380 ammunition to be that powerful.

Although police searched the murder scene on McKellar Circle, the bullet that killed Mendoza was never recovered.

While Johnson admitted initial interest over the fatal wound, he told the judge from the witness stand Friday that the half-inch bullet wound was not inconsistent with a .380 bullet. He said his decision to explore the issue was his attempt to be as thorough as possible.

He explained that tissue can expand from the impact of a bullet. But Cremen suggested that a third gun -- perhaps accidentally discharging as it was being pulled by one of the 18th Street Gang members who lived there -- was the weapon that killed Mendoza.

To justify a new trial, the judge must conclude not only that there is new evidence, but that such evidence might have changed the outcome of the original trial.

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