Supreme Court upholds two Washoe County death sentences

Two Washoe County death sentences were upheld by Nevada Supreme Court justices on Monday.

The court upheld the death sentence for Shawn Russell Harte in the murder of Reno-Sparks Cab Co. driver John Castro. Castro was found slumped over the wheel of his cab in Cold Springs in October 1997. He had been shot in the head.

Harte admitted involvement in the crime and shooting Castro in the head and bragged about it in a letter to a former girlfriend.

Harte appealed, claiming the district court should have suppressed his incriminating statements and that his decision to waive his Miranda rights was invalid. The high court ruled the tapes of the interviews with deputies shows he knew his rights and knew he could stop talking and demand a lawyer but voluntarily chose to talk.

They decided to overturn an earlier Nevada Supreme Court ruling mandating that law enforcement stop questioning after even an ambiguous request for a lawyer. Instead, they cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling saying that police can continue questioning until the suspect clearly requests an attorney.

Six of the justices signed the opinion. Chief Justice Bob Rose, however, filed a separate opinion saying that, while he agrees with the majority Harte's death sentence should stand, he doesn't want to reduce Miranda protections police have to provide suspects.

He said when Harte asked "When do I get to talk to a lawyer?" he regards that as a request for counsel and that police should have stopped there.

"We do not have to abandon our rules and decisions every time the (Supreme Court Chief Justic William) Rehnquist majority decides to reduce individual protections," said Rose in his concurring opinion.

He said he would agree with the decision to uphold the conviction and death sentence, however, because of the "abundant, admissible evidence establishing Harte's guilt."

In addition, the court upheld the sentence for Terry Jess Dennis, who pleaded guilty to strangling Ilona Straumanis in March 1999. He was sentenced to die by a three-judge panel which ruled that aggravating circumstances including three prior violent felonies outweighed mitigating circumstances, including mental illness.

An autopsy showed the woman had died several days before Dennis called police to the motel room where her nude body was found.