Preciado v. State, 58000

• Decision Date: 13 February 2014
• Docket Number: No. 58000,58000
• Parties: EDWARD PRECIADO, A/K/A EDWARD A. PRECIADO-NUNO, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF NEVADA, Respondent.
• Court: Nevada Supreme Court

EDWARD PRECIADO, A/K/A EDWARD A. PRECIADO-NUNO, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF NEVADA, Respondent.

No. 58000

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEVADA

FILED February 13, 2014

130 Nev., Advance Opinion 6

Appeal from a judgment of conviction, pursuant to a jury verdict, of voluntary manslaughter with the use of a deadly weapon. Eighth Judicial District Court, Clark County; Donald M. Mosley, Judge.

Affirmed.

Law Office of Lisa Rasmussen and Lisa A. Rasmussen, Las Vegas, for Appellant.

Catherine Cortez Masto, Attorney General, Carson City; Steven B. Wolfson, District Attorney, and Steven S. Owens, Chief Deputy District Attorney, Clark County, for Respondent.

BEFORE GIBBONS, C.J., DOUGLAS and SAITTA, JJ.

OPINION

By the Court, DOUGLAS, J.:

We take this opportunity to stress that bench and in-chambers conferences should be memorialized either contemporaneously or by allowing counsel to make a record afterward; and that a prospective jurorwho is anything less than unequivocal about his or her impartiality should be excused for cause.

Appellant Edward Preciado engaged in a physical altercation with Kim Long. During the altercation, Preciado repeatedly struck Long in the head with a hammer, killing her. Preciado claimed self-defense, but a jury convicted Preciado of voluntary manslaughter with the use of a deadly weapon. The district court sentenced Preciado to the maximum of 4 to 10 years in prison, with a consecutive 4 to 10 years for the weapon enhancement.

On appeal, Preciado raises eight issues for this court's review: (1) whether the district court's failure to record numerous bench and in-chambers conferences was a constitutional violation; (2) whether the district court erred in declining to give Preciado's jury questionnaire and denying his challenges for cause; (3) whether the State committed prosecutorial misconduct; (4) whether the State mishandled critical evidence; (5) whether the district court erred in limiting Preciado's examination of three witnesses; (6) whether the trial judge improperly sentenced Preciado; (7) whether the trial judge was biased against the defense; and (8) whether cumulative error requires a new trial.¹

After full consideration, we determine that only two of Preciado's issues have some merit: that the district court erred in failing to record numerous bench and in-chambers conferences and in failing toexcuse for cause a prospective juror who was equivocal about her impartiality. However, these errors were harmless; thus, we affirm Preciado's judgment of conviction.

Unrecorded bench conferences and in-chambers discussions

The district court conducted numerous unrecorded bench and in-chambers conferences during Preciado's trial. The court memorialized some of the conferences, but not all. The court also denied Preciado's motion to settle the trial record and reconstruct the unrecorded conferences. Preciado argues that the court's failure to make a record of all of the conferences effectively denied him his right to appeal.

Meaningful appellate review is inextricably linked to the availability of an accurate record of the lower court proceedings regarding the issues on appeal; therefore, a defendant is entitled to have the most accurate record of his or her district court proceedings possible. See Daniel v. State, 119 Nev. 498, 507-08, 78 P.3d 890, 897 (2003). In Daniel, we determined that SCR 250(5)(a) and due process require a district court to record all sidebar proceedings in a capital case either contemporaneously with the matter's resolution, or the sidebar's contents must be placed on the record at the next break in trial. Id.

Due process requires us to extend our reasoning in Daniel to defendants in noncapital cases, because regardless of the type of case, it is crucial for a district court to memorialize all bench conferences, either contemporaneously or by allowing the attorneys to make a record afterward.

Here, the district erred by failing to make a record of the unrecorded conferences, but this misstep does not warrant reversal. A district court's failure to make a record of an unrecorded sidebar warrants reversal only if the appellant shows that the record's missing portions areso significant that their absence precludes this court from conducting a meaningful review of the alleged errors that the appellant identified and the prejudicial effect of any error. Id. at 508, 78 P.3d at 897, Preciado did not demonstrate that the district court's failure to record all conferences prejudiced his appeal. The district court record is sufficient to allow this court to adequately consider all issues that Preciado preserved for appeal. Thus, the unrecorded conferences did not prejudice Preciado, and reversal is not warranted.

Challenges for cause

During the jury selection process, Preciado asserted challenges for cause against prospective jurors #304, #318, and #496, in an attempt to exclude the jurors from the jury pool. Preciado asserted that: (1) prospective juror #304's statement that graphic photos would make her think Preciado was a little bit guilty demonstrated that she could not be impartial when reviewing the evidence and rendering a verdict, (2) the district court should have excluded prospective juror #318...