Capital punishment in Nevada

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A hanging that took place in Nevada. Hanging was the method used for all executions before that of Gee Jon in 1924. Gas chamber were used afterwards

Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment in the U.S. state of Nevada. The first recorded execution in the area that is now Nevada was the hanging of John Carr for murdering Bernhard Cherry of Carson City on November 30, 1860 and the first record execution in the Nevada Territory was the hanging of Allen Milstead outside Dayton for killing Lyon County Commissioner T. Varney at Ragtown . These were the first of 60 executions from 1860 to the present. Since 1976, 12 people have been executed by the state. As of November 8, 2007 there are 88 people on "Death Row".

[edit] Process

The jury decides the sentence in a capital cases. It decides if aggravating and mitigating circumstances raised by the prosecution and defense are true. If aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances, the sentences that could be made include death, life imprisonment without parole, life imprisonment with parole in twenty years at a minimum or imprisonment for fifty years with parole in twenty years at a minimum. The amount of aggravating circumstances and the amount of mitigating circumstances equal, if no mitigating or aggravating circumstances exist or mitigating circumstances outweigh aggravating circumstances, the sentences that could be made include death, life imprisonment without parole, life imprisonment with parole in twenty years at a minimum or imprisonment for fifty years with parole in twenty years at a minimum. The Governor of Nevada sits on a board that determines clemency.

[edit] Method

Death row in Nevada is located at Nevada State Prison. Lethal injection is the sole method of execution in Nevada.

Hanging was the method prescribed by law from 1860 to 1921. The level of execution moved from county to Nevada State Prison in 1905. A law in 1921 replaced hanging with the gas chamber and the gas chamber was used from the execution of Gee Jon in 1924 to Jesse Bishop in 1979 in Nevada.

[edit] Capital offenses

• First Degree Murder
  • Murder perpetrated by means of poison, lying in wait or torture, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate and premeditated killing.
  • Murder committed in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of sexual assault, kidnapping, arson, robbery, burglary, invasion of the home, sexual abuse of a child, sexual molestation of a child under the age of 14 years or child abuse.
  • Murder committed to avoid or prevent the lawful arrest of any person by a peace officer or to effect the escape of any person from legal custody.
  • Murder committed on the property of a public or private school, at an activity sponsored by a public or private school or on a school bus while the bus was engaged in its official duties by a person who intended to create a great risk of death or substantial bodily harm to more than one person by means of a weapon, device or course of action that would normally be hazardous to the lives of more than one person.
  • Murder committed in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of an act of terrorism.
    • When these aggravating factors exist:
      • The murder was committed by a person under sentence of imprisonment.
      • The murder was committed by a person who, at any time before a penalty hearing is conducted for the murder pursuant to NRS 175.552, is or has been convicted of:
        • Another murder and the provisions of subsection 12 do not otherwise apply to that other murder; or
        • A felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person of another and the provisions of subsection 4 do not otherwise apply to that felony.
      • The murder was committed by a person who knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person by means of a weapon, device or course of action which would normally be hazardous to the lives of more than one person.
      • The murder was committed while the person was engaged, alone or with others, in the commission of, or an attempt to commit or flight after committing or attempting to commit, any robbery, arson in the first degree, burglary, invasion of the home or kidnapping in the first degree, and the person charged:
        • Killed or attempted to kill the person murdered; or
        • Knew or had reason to know that life would be taken or lethal force used.
      • The murder was committed to avoid or prevent a lawful arrest or to effect an escape from custody.
      • The murder was committed by a person, for himself or another, to receive money or any other thing of monetary value.
      • The murder was committed upon a peace officer or firefighter who was killed while engaged in the performance of his official duty or because of an act performed in his official capacity, and the defendant knew or reasonably should have known that the victim was a peace officer or firefighter. For the purposes of this subsection, "peace officer" means:
        • An employee of the Department of Corrections who does not exercise general control over offenders imprisoned within the institutions and facilities of the Department, but whose normal duties require him to come into contact with those offenders when carrying out the duties prescribed by the Director of the Department.
        • Any person upon whom some or all of the powers of a peace officer are conferred pursuant to NRS 289.150 to 289.360, inclusive, when carrying out those powers.
      • The murder involved torture or the mutilation of the victim.
      • The murder was committed upon one or more persons at random and without apparent motive.
      • The murder was committed upon a person less than 14 years of age.
      • The murder was committed upon a person because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation of that person.
      • The defendant has, in the immediate proceeding, been convicted of more than one offense of murder in the first or second degree. For the purposes of this subsection, a person shall be deemed to have been convicted of a murder at the time the jury verdict of guilt is rendered or upon pronouncement of guilt by a judge or judges sitting without a jury.
      • The person, alone or with others, subjected or attempted to subject the victim of the murder to nonconsensual sexual penetration immediately before, during or immediately after the commission of the murder. For the purposes of this subsection:
        • "Nonconsensual" means against the victim’s will or under conditions in which the person knows or reasonably should know that the victim is mentally or physically incapable of resisting, consenting or understanding the nature of his conduct, including, but not limited to, conditions in which the person knows or reasonably should know that the victim is dead.
        • "Sexual penetration" means cunnilingus, fellatio or any intrusion, however slight, of any part of the victim’s body or any object manipulated or inserted by a person, alone or with others, into the genital or anal openings of the body of the victim, whether or not the victim is alive. The term includes, but is not limited to, anal intercourse and sexual intercourse in what would be its ordinary meaning.
      • The murder was committed on the property of a public or private school, at an activity sponsored by a public or private school or on a school bus while the bus was engaged in its official duties by a person who intended to create a great risk of death or substantial bodily harm to more than one person by means of a weapon, device or course of action that would normally be hazardous to the lives of more than one person. For the purposes of this subsection, "school bus" has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 483.160.
      • The murder was committed with the intent to commit, cause, aid, further or conceal an act of terrorism. For the purposes of this subsection, "act of terrorism" has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 202.4415.

[edit] List of individuals executed after 1976

A total of 12 individuals convicted of murder have been executed by the state of Nevada since 1976. All were by lethal injection except those indicated by a * which were performed by using a gas chamber.

[edit] See also

• Capital punishment in the United States

[edit] External links

• First Degree Murder
• Sentence of Death

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