LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A federal court docket dominated an imprisoned former Las Vegas police officer discovered responsible of a lethal drive-by capturing almost 30 years in the past will obtain a brand new trial.
The order filed Monday by U.S. District Choose Kent Dawson stated the homicide conviction towards Ronald Mortensen should be vacated and that he should obtain a brand new trial.
Mortensen, now 59, is at present 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 at present 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 had been “nasty people,” in accordance with the court docket order.
Each males had their off-duty weapons with them in Brady’s pickup truck after they drove into an alley close to McKeller Circle close to Flamingo and Paradise roads and noticed some individuals. Brady stated Mortensen, who was 31, fired pictures from the passenger window, which ended up hitting and killing Daniel Mendoza. Mortensen stated Brady reached over and grabbed Mortensen’s gun and fired it on the individuals.
Proof introduced on the trial confirmed the bullets on the scene matched Mortensen’s gun. Solely his fingerprints, not Brady’s, had 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 residence 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 stated the 2 had agreed to go collectively. In court docket paperwork, Mortensen stated he felt as if he was being arrange.
Federal-Court docket-ruling-in-Mortensen-caseDownload
Over time, 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 wished to commit a drive-by capturing was suppressed, and Choose 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 any phrase but on when, or if, a brand new trial can be granted, or if there is a chance Mortensen will simply be launched.
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Author : LasVegasNews
Publish date : 2025-04-01 21:09:00
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