LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A federal court docket dominated an imprisoned former Las Vegas police officer discovered responsible of a lethal drive-by capturing practically 30 years in the past ought to obtain a brand new trial.
The order filed Monday by U.S. District Decide Kent Dawson mentioned the homicide conviction towards Ronald Mortensen have to be vacated and that he should obtain a brand new trial.
Mortensen, now 59, is presently serving two life sentences with out parole at Excessive Desert State Jail, about 40 miles exterior of Las Vegas, following his homicide conviction in 1997.
A federal court docket order has overturned the homicide conviction of former Las Vegas police officer Ronald Mortensen for a lethal capturing in 1996. He’s presently serving two life sentences at Excessive Desert State Jail. (Credit score: NDOC)
Mortensen, who was off-duty and using with one other off-duty police officer, Christopher Brady, on the night time of Dec. 28, 1996, had been ingesting and driving round. Brady admitted to police he was driving recklessly and that he and Mortensen “thought they could get away with harassing” the “bangers and dopers and the people in the neighborhood” as a result of they have been “nasty people,” based on the court docket order.
Each males had their off-duty weapons with them in Brady’s pickup truck once they drove into an alley close to McKeller Circle close to Flamingo and Paradise roads and noticed some folks. Brady mentioned Mortensen, who was 31, fired photographs from the passenger window, which ended up hitting and killing Daniel Mendoza. Mortensen mentioned Brady reached over and grabbed Mortensen’s gun and fired it on the folks.
Proof offered on the trial confirmed the bullets on the scene matched Mortensen’s gun. Solely his fingerprints, not Brady’s, have been discovered on the weapon. Witnesses additionally recognized Mortensen because the shooter.
Brady, 24, on the time of the capturing, took Mortensen’s gun to his house and reached out to his father, a longtime Metro police officer, for recommendation. Brady went to his supervisor and reported the capturing with out Mortensen, though Mortensen mentioned the 2 had agreed to go collectively. In court docket paperwork, Mortensen mentioned he felt as if he was being arrange.
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Through the years, Mortensen has tried and failed a number of occasions to get a retrial. He claims proof about one other police officer listening to Brady say he needed to commit a drive-by capturing was suppressed, and Decide Dawson agreed.
Dawson additionally discovered that state prosecutors did not adequately instruct jurors on the weather required for a first-degree homicide conviction earlier than they deliberated.
There isn’t a phrase but on when, or if, a brand new trial will likely be granted, or if there is a risk Mortensen will simply be launched.
