LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Monday was the final day of the 120-day legislative session in Nevada and late that night time, Nevada lawmakers handed Reba’s Legislation, an animal cruelty measure.
The proposal, Meeting Invoice 381, was geared toward strengthening penalties in opposition to animal abusers after the loss of life of an English bulldog who died in July 2024 after she was left sealed inside a plastic tub in 110-degree warmth.
She initially survived, however died days later because of warmth stroke.
Republican Assem. Melissa Hardy proposed the invoice, which additionally establishes a wider vary of penalties so prosecutors can extra simply make the punishment match the crime, she mentioned.
“As I stated from the beginning, the intent was to seek justice for Reba and to be the voice for the voiceless, those that are harmed, abused and killed that can’t speak for themselves,” Hardy mentioned in April when the invoice, which missed a deadline to maneuver out of committee, was granted an excemption to be revived.
Present regulation permits solely misdemeanors to punish individuals concerned in all kinds of animal cruelty circumstances. The sentences vary from one to 4 years in jail, even when the animal dies. This invoice requires harder penalties in additional excessive circumstances, together with when an animal is killed or when a police animal is disabled or killed.
The invoice lists the punishment in each circumstances as imprisonment for a minimal time period of not lower than one yr and a most time period of no more than six years.
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo had not signed the invoice as of Tuesday afternoon.
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Reba’s loss of life made nationwide headlines in 2024 as individuals known as for “Justice for Reba.” In December, police arrested Issac Laushaul Jr., 32; and Markeisha Foster, 30, on animal abuse expenses. A grand jury later voted to indict them on related expenses.
On Monday, the 8 Information Now Investigators reported that Laushaul needed his trial to occur outdoors of Las Vegas due to intense media protection.
“The media has followed this case/story extensively,” Laushaul’s legal professional wrote in courtroom paperwork filed Could 16, citing 8 Information Now’s reporting. “Media coverage has included photographs, articles all about ‘Reba,’ interviews with individuals who know the defendant, coverage of in-court proceedings, pending motions, comments by prosecutors, police, and defense attorneys, and interviews and analyses of veterinarians as to ‘how this could have all happened.’”
The submitting signifies Laushaul and his legal professional imagine they are going to be unable to seek out an neutral jury.
Whereas not asking for a venue change, Foster’s legal professional requested the choose to sever her case from Laushaul’s. Clark County District Courtroom Decide Ron Israel was scheduled to listen to arguments on each points Wednesday.
