Rippo v. State
| Citation | 113 Nev. 1239,946 P.2d 1017 |
| Decision Date | 01 October 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 28865,28865 |
| Parties | Michael Damon RIPPO, Appellant, v. The STATE of Nevada, Respondent. |
| Court | Nevada Supreme Court |
A jury convicted appellant Michael Damon Rippo of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of robbery, and one count of unauthorized use of a credit card. Rippo received two sentences of death for the first-degree murder convictions. Rippo raises numerous issues on appeal. We conclude that Rippo was fairly tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.
On February 20, 1992, the apartment manager of the Katie Arms Apartment Complex in Las Vegas discovered the bodies of Denise Lizzi and Lauri Jacobson in Jacobson's apartment. Officers from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department ("LVMPD") arrived at the scene and recovered a clothing iron and a hair dryer, from which the electrical cords had been removed, a black leather strip, a telephone cord, and two pieces of black shoelace. They observed glass fragments scattered on the living room and kitchen floor areas.
In April 1992, the LVMPD arrested Diana Hunt and charged her with the killing and robbery of Lizzi and Jacobson. As part of her plea agreement, Hunt agreed to testify at the trial of Michael Rippo. Hunt testified to the following:
At the time of the murders, Hunt was Rippo's girlfriend. On February 18, 1992, she and Rippo went to the Katie Arms Apartment Complex to meet Jacobson, who was home alone. Rippo and Jacobson injected themselves with morphine for recreational purposes. Shortly thereafter Lizzi arrived, and she and Jacobson went outside for approximately twenty minutes. While Jacobson and Lizzi were outside, Rippo closed the apartment curtains and the window and asked Hunt to give him a stun gun she had in her purse. Rippo then made a phone call.
When Jacobson and Lizzi returned to the apartment, they went into the bathroom. Rippo brought Hunt a bottle of beer and told her that when Jacobson answered the phone, Hunt should hit Jacobson with the bottle so that Rippo could rob Lizzi. A few minutes later the phone rang, and Jacobson came out of the bathroom to answer it. Hunt hit Jacobson on the back of her head with the bottle causing Jacobson to fall to the floor. Rippo and Lizzi were yelling in the bathroom, and Hunt could hear the stun gun being fired. Hunt witnessed Rippo wrestle Lizzi across the hall into a big closet. Hunt ran to the closet and observed Rippo sitting on top of Lizzi and stunning her with the stun gun. Hunt then went to the living room and helped Jacobson sit up. Rippo came out of the closet holding a knife which he had used to cut the cords from several appliances, told Jacobson to lie down, tied her hands and feet, and put a bandanna in her mouth.
Hunt next saw Rippo in the closet with Lizzi. Rippo had tied Lizzi's hands and feet. At this point, a friend of Jacobson's approached the apartment, knocked on the door, and called out for Jacobson. Rippo put a gag in Lizzi's mouth. Jacobson was still gagged and apparently unable to answer. After the friend left, Rippo began stunning Jacobson with the stun gun. He placed a cord or belt-type object through the ties on Jacobson's feet and wrists, and dragged her across the floor to the closet. As Rippo dragged her, Jacobson appeared to be choking. Hunt began to vomit and next remembered hearing an odd noise coming from the closet. She observed Rippo with his knee in the small of Lizzi's back, pulling on an object he had placed around her neck.
When Hunt accused Rippo of choking the women, Rippo told her that he had only temporarily cut off their air supply, and that Hunt and Rippo had to leave before the two women woke up. Rippo wiped down the apartment with a rag before leaving. While cleaning up, Rippo went into the closet and removed Lizzi's boots and pants. He explained to Hunt that he needed to remove Lizzi's pants because he had bled on them.
Later that evening, Rippo called Hunt and told her to meet him at a friend's shop. When Hunt arrived, Rippo was there with Thomas Simms, the owner of the shop, and another unidentified man. Rippo told Hunt that he had stolen a car for her and that she needed to obtain some paperwork on it. Hunt believed the car, a maroon Nissan, had belonged to Lizzi.
The next day, on February 19, 1992, Hunt and Rippo purchased a pair of sunglasses using a gold Visa card. Rippo told Hunt that he had purchased an air compressor and tools on a Sears credit card that morning. Later that day, Hunt, who was scared of Rippo and wanted to "get away from him[,]" went through Rippo's wallet in search of money. Hunt was unable to find any money, but she took a gold Visa card belonging to Denny Mason, Lizzi's boyfriend, from Rippo's wallet. Hunt did not know who Mason was. Around February 29, 1992, Rippo confronted Hunt. Hunt suggested to Rippo that they turn themselves in to the LVMPD, but Rippo refused, telling Hunt that he had returned to Jacobson's apartment, cut the women's throats, and jumped up and down on them.
The medical examiner, Dr. Giles Sheldon Green, who performed autopsies on Lizzi and Jacobson, also testified at Rippo's trial. Dr. Green testified that Lizzi had been found with a sock in her mouth, secured by a gag that encircled her head. The sock had been pushed back so far that part of it was underneath Lizzi's tongue, blocking her airway. Pieces of cloth were found tied around each of her wrists. Dr. Green testified that Lizzi's numerous injuries were consistent with manual and ligature strangulation.
Dr. Green testified that Jacobson died from asphyxiation due to manual strangulation. Dr. Green found no traces of drugs in Jacobson's system. Neither of the womens' bodies revealed stun gun marks.
Thomas Simms also testified at trial that Rippo arrived at his shop on February 18, 1992, with a burgundy Nissan. When Simms asked about the ownership of the car, Rippo responded that someone had died for it. Rippo gave Simms several music cassette tapes, many bearing the initials D.L., and an empty suitcase with Lauri Jacobson's name tag. On February 21, 1992, Simms heard a news report that two women had been killed and that one of them was named Denise Lizzi. On February 26, 1992, Simms met Rippo in a parking lot to return a bottle of morphine that Rippo had left in Simms' refrigerator. When Simms inquired about the murders, Rippo admitted that he had "choked those two bitches to death" and that he had killed the first woman accidentally so he had to kill the other one.
On September 15, 1993, Deputy District Attorneys John Lukens and Teresa Lowry accompanied two police officers in the execution of a search warrant on the home of Alice Starr. Starr had testified on the State's behalf before the grand jury but subsequently was identified by Rippo as an alibi witness. Officer Roy Chandler, one of the two officers present at the scene, testified at an evidentiary hearing that Starr's sister responded to their knock on the door, admitted the officers and the prosecutors, and told them that she and her two children were the only ones in the house. Starr, however, suddenly came out of the kitchen area. Surprised at Starr's presence, the officers checked the residence for other individuals. The officers removed their guns from their holsters. Starr corroborated the officers' version of the events, testifying that the officers did not draw their guns until she appeared from the kitchen.
During the search, one of the officers found drugs and placed Starr under arrest. Lukens testified that he told Starr:
I am concerned. When I was last here, you told me that your relationship with Mr. Rippo was as an acquaintance.... I don't think you were honest with me. And if there was anything else that you weren't honest in telling me the truth about, I'd like to give you a chance to tell me.
Starr testified that Lukens did not threaten her, but stated, "[I]f [you're] going to dangle on [Rippo's] star, [you're] going to go down like he is." Upon a motion by the defense, the district court disqualified Lukens and Lowry as a result of their participation in the search and requested the district attorney's office to transfer the case to different prosecutors.
The jury found Rippo guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, and one count each of robbery and unauthorized use of a credit card. After the penalty hearing, the jury sentenced Rippo to death, finding six aggravating factors: (1) the murders were committed by a person under sentence of imprisonment; (2) the murders were committed by a person who was previously convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to another person; (3) the murders were committed while the person was engaged in the commission of or an attempt to commit robbery; (4) the murders involved torture; (5) the murders were committed while the person was engaged in the commission of or an attempt to commit burglary; and (6) the murders were committed while the person was engaged in the commission of or an attempt to commit kidnapping.
Disqualification of the trial judge
During the trial, the parties became aware that District Judge Gerard Bongiovanni was the subject of a federal grand jury probe. The defense requested that Judge Bongiovanni recuse himself from Rippo's trial because of the pending investigation. The defense argued that a potential conflict existed because the news media might pressure the judge, thereby making it "incumbent upon the Court to show how tough it can be and how it can be favorable to the State."
NCJC Canon 3E provides, in part:
(1) A judge shall disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judge's impartiality might...
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