Bridgewater v. Warden, Nevada State Prison
| Decision Date | 23 December 1993 |
| Docket Number | 23533,Nos. 22854,s. 22854 |
| Citation | 109 Nev. 1159,865 P.2d 1166 |
| Parties | Gerald BRIDGEWATER, Appellant, v. WARDEN, NEVADA STATE PRISON, John Ignacio, Respondent. Joseph CLEM, Gerald Bridgewater, Kenneth Bridgewater, James Player and Charles Cook, Appellants, v. WARDEN, ELY STATE PRISON, Respondent. |
| Court | Nevada Supreme Court |
These are appeals from two orders of two district courts denying appellants' post-conviction petitions for writs of habeas corpus. 1
On August 5, 1986, appellants were convicted, pursuant to a jury verdict, of one count each of first degree kidnapping with a deadly weapon, extortion with a deadly weapon, and mayhem with a deadly weapon. Each appellant was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for kidnapping, ten years for extortion, and five years for mayhem; and each was given identical consecutive sentences for committing each offense with a deadly weapon. In affirming appellants' convictions and sentences, this court held, inter alia, that the red hot fork and electric iron used by appellants in the commission of their crimes were deadly weapons. Clem v. State, 104 Nev. 351, 760 P.2d 103 (1988), reversed in part, Zgombic v. State, 106 Nev. 571, 798 P.2d 548 (1990).
On May 15, 1989, appellants each filed identical proper person petitions for post-conviction relief. Appellants raised numerous grounds for relief. On April 9, 1990, after an evidentiary hearing, appellants' petitions were denied by the district court. This court dismissed appellants' subsequent appeal. Clem v. State, 106 Nev. 1018, 835 P.2d 32 (Order Dismissing Appeal, October 29, 1990).
On December 13, 1990, appellants filed a proper person petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Seventh Judicial District Court. They contended that: (1) the reasonable doubt instructions given to the jury at their trial were unconstitutional, (2) they received ineffective assistance of counsel because counsel did not argue that the reasonable doubt instructions were unconstitutional, and (3) the jury instruction defining a deadly weapon was an incorrect statement of the law. On July 28, 1992, the district court denied appellants' petition.
Meanwhile, on September 16, 1991, appellant Gerald Bridgewater individually filed a proper person petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the First Judicial District Court. His petition alleged the same grounds for relief as the joint petition. On December 18, 1991, the district court denied Gerald Bridgewater's petition.
Appellants contend that the instructions regarding reasonable doubt given to the jury during their trial were unconstitutional. See Cage v. Louisiana, 498 U.S. 39, 111 S.Ct. 328, 112 L.Ed.2d 339 (1990). This contention lacks merit. See Lord v. State, 107 Nev. 28, 806 P.2d 548 (1991).
Appellants further contend that their counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge the constitutionality of the reasonable doubt instructions. This contention lacks merit. Appellants' counsel were not ineffective...
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Clem v. State
...Court. The district courts denied the petitions, and on appeal to this court, the cases were consolidated.13 On December 23, 1993, in Bridgewater v. Warden,14 we affirmed the denials of appellants' petitions. We rejected their retroactivity argument on the merits, concluding that "Zgombic c......
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...unless they are rules of constitutional law, when they apply retroactively only under certain circumstances. Bridgewater v. Warden, 109 Nev. 1159, 1161, 865 P.2d 1166, 1167 (1993); Gier v. District Court, 106 Nev. 208, 212, 789 P.2d 1245, 1248 (1990). Therefore, the required use of the Byfo......
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