Ruling on coroner’s inquests near, judge says
After hearing arguments for 90 minutes Wednesday, District Judge Joanna Kishner promised a decision within the next two weeks on whether to grant a preliminary injunction to block the revamped coroner’s inquest into fatal police shootings.
Kishner also consolidated two lawsuits challenging the process filed by five Nevada Highway Patrol officers who faced an inquest in the August 2010 death of a motorist on U.S. Highway 95.
The lawsuits are similar to a federal court challenge filed by three Las Vegas police officers.
Because of the time taken to revamp the process and the legal challenges, Clark County hasn’t held an inquest since October, creating a backlog of 15 cases.
Lawyers for the Highway Patrol troopers again argued Wednesday that the new inquest rules violated basic due process rights by limiting the troopers’ access to evidence and their ability to present evidence. The officers also are worried that any testimony in an inquest could be used against them in a criminal case or civil lawsuit.
The lawyers contend the new process creates a potential violation of the constitutional separation of powers because it seems to allow the judge overseeing the inquest to be involved in the investigation, a function of the executive branch.
“It’s not a valid process just because the county commissioners say it is,” Thomas Donaldson, an attorney for two of the troopers, told Kishner.
The county’s privately hired lawyer, Eva Garcia-Mendoza, countered that the justice of the peace overseeing the inquest does not get involved in the investigative process. That is handled by the coroner, she said.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.
