Friday, Nov. 29, 2013 | 3:25 p.m.
CARSON CITY — A divided Nevada Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a man sentenced to 35 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2008.
Noe O. Perez argued his conviction should be overturned because testimony should not have been admitted from an expert witness about how an adult can establish a trusting relationship with a child to lower the child’s resistance to engaging in sexual activity.
Justice Ron Parraguirre, who wrote the majority 4-3 opinion, said the expert witness, clinical forensic psychologist John Paglini, had conducted more than 1,000 psychosexual evaluations on sex offenders and was qualified to testify.
The dissenting justices said the testimony was prejudicial and should not have been allowed.
Perez was convicted of six counts of lewdness with a minor and two counts of sexual assault.
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