Nevada high court upholds death sentence in Libby case

Libby was convicted and sentenced to death in April 1990 for the murders of Charles Beatty and James Robertson, whose bodies were found 19 months earlier.

But his lawyers protested, pointing out that most peremptory challenges exercised by the prosecutor were used to remove women from the jury.

The Nevada Supreme Court originally agreed with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case and remanded the case to district court in Humboldt County for an evidentiary hearing.

"The state's use of seven out of nine peremptories against female jurors not only established a prima facie case of discrimination but was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause," the Nevada court ruled.

The district court held that hearing and, last December, denied a new trial saying the state had enough explanation to support the prosecutor's use of the peremptory challenges.

On Monday, the Supreme Court voted to back the district court, which supported prosecutor Jack Bullock's right to eliminate jurors, including women, who he felt weren't tough enough to vote a death sentence .

"A legitimate reason for excluding a juror is not a reasons that makes sense but a reason that does not deny equal protection," according to Monday's opinion.

"We conclude that the district court's decision that there was no purposeful discrimination in the state's use of peremptory challenges was not clearly erroneous," the Nevada court ruled.

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