Wednesday, Dec. 8, 1999 | 11:07 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Reginald Hayes, who spent 13 years in prison for a murder he says he only witnessed, found tears welling in his eyes Tuesday as a state board unanimously voted to pardon him for that crime.
"I finally get the opportunity to be a regular citizen," Hayes said after the state Pardons Board erased his criminal record effective immediately.
Hayes, now 28, was 14 when he was arrested in Las Vegas with three older teens in the kidnapping and shooting death of John H. Brown, a 21-year-old Nellis Air Force Base airman.
Hayes was convicted of first-degree murder and several counts of attempted murder. He received a life term without the possibility of parole plus 80 years. Hayes said he was merely getting a ride home from the other suspects when they committed the crime.
Instead of running like the others, he stayed at the scene, showed police the victim and led officers to the other suspects. Despite his cooperation, he was convicted.
"It's time for us to admit a mistake was made," said Supreme Court Justice Bill Maupin, a member of the Pardons Board.
"If ever a case cried out for justice, this is it," Justice Myron Leavitt added.
Hayes was freed a year ago after the district attorney's office agreed to rescind the murder and attempted murder charges in exchange for a plea to a kidnapping count.
District Judge Kathy Hardcastle then sentenced Hayes to time served, and he was released from prison in November 1998.
U.S. Public Defender Franny Forsman, whose office filed the writ to free him, said Hayes "was a little kid" when he was sent to prison and he "spent the next 13 years of his life in fear."
Despite his freedom, Hayes has carried the stigma of an ex-felon. When he applies for a job, he must mark on the application that he is an ex-convict. He takes newspaper clippings of his release from prison to show the employers he was an innocent man, but that hasn't worked, he said.
"In the last three months, the door has been slammed in my face" whenever he applies for a job, he said. "I've had 40 applications and no calls back." He has worked on and off as a laborer but without steady employment.
Hayes said he has worked to prove himself, and the label of ex-convict is unfairly holding him back. "I am not worthy of that," he said.
He plans to attend community college to pursue courses in communications. And he may receive a scholarship.
Hayes' application for a full pardon was supported by Elgin Simpson, executive director of the Nevada Supreme Court Task Force on Racial and Economic Bias and state Sen. Joe Neal, D-Las Vegas.
"This gentleman did not commit a crime," Neal said. "Granting a pardon would restore confidence in the justice system." He said Hayes, who is black, was the victim of an overzealous district attorney and deputy district attorney.
Simpson said Hayes should have all his rights restored that he enjoyed before his conviction. Hayes did not take part in the crime and "had plenty of opportunity to get away," Simpson pointed out.
"He told police about the murder, where the body was and where the suspects were," he said. "He has no business being on parole."
Simpson said Hayes should be able to vote, own a weapon and if he chooses, to file a wrongful arrest suit. But Hayes has not thought about a lawsuit over his wrongful imprisonment, Simpson said.
The application was opposed by Frank Ponticello, a Clark County deputy district attorney, who urged the Pardons Board to wait a year before acting.
"It's too soon to see if things have worked out," he said, adding that people in prison develop a criminal mindset. "We don't know if Reggie will make it on the outside."
But Gov. Kenny Guinn, chairman of the Pardons Board, said, "We won't know in 24 months," and he questioned how is Hayes going to get a job in the meantime.
"He didn't run," Guinn said. "He pointed out everything. No one ever said he was lying. He seemed to be an awfully good citizen when he started." Guinn praised Hardcastle for making "a difficult and the right decision" to release Hayes from prison.
Supreme Court Justice Cliff Young asked how Hayes got convicted under the circumstances. U.S. Assistant Public Defender Danice Johnson, who has worked on the case for seven years, said it "boggles the mind."
She said the prosecution knew there were alibi witnesses and that the late District Judge Paul Goldman, who presided over the case, was undergoing mental and physical problems at the time that led to his ouster from the bench. Johnson also said the defense lawyer, Bob Legakes, was ineffective and was under federal investigation at the time on bribery charges.
Forsman said the next step is to get the court records sealed in the case.
archive
