Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008 | 9:47 a.m.
CARSON CITY – The Nevada Supreme Court has ordered District Judge Donald Mosley to appoint lawyers for two brothers convicted of a shooting in which one man was killed in Las Vegas.
The high court said the district court “abused its discretion in denying” the petitions of Gilbert D. Aguilar and David Aguilar who asked for appointment of lawyers to process their claims they were not adequately represented at the trial.
They were convicted in 1998 of firing shots into a condominium complex, killing Mark Emerson who was talking to a 911 operator describing the shooting. He was hit in the chest with a bullet from an AK-47 assault rifle.
Some 56 rounds were fired by the brothers’ semiautomatic rifles. Gilbert was sentenced to life in prison without parole. David got a life term with the possibility of parole.
The brothers maintain their attorneys at trial failed to investigate numerous state witnesses, did not interview potential alibi witnesses and allowed unreliable evidence to be introduced.
Judge Mosley held a hearing but denied the petition to appoint lawyers to help the brothers with their post-conviction writ of habeas corpus.
The Supreme Court said, “As appellants are serving significant sentences, are indigent, have raised numerous claims that required the investigation of facts outside the record, and faced a significant impediment to litigating those claims with the district court’s delay in resolving the petition, we reverse the district court’s denial of appellants’ petitions…”
Cy Ryan may be reached at (775) 687 5032 or [email protected].
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy