June 30, 2004

Nevada



By BRENDAN RILEY, Associated Press

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - A man freed after spending 14
years on Nevada's
death row for a murder he always said he did not
commit has settled a
lawsuit for $5 million, attorneys announced Tuesday.

Roberto Miranda had sued Clark County, the public
defender's office and
two former Las Vegas police detectives, claiming
authorities violated his
civil rights.

``There is no amount of money that will give him back
those 14 years,''
said his attorney, JoNell Thomas.

Miranda claimed an inexperienced public defender did
not do enough to help
him avoid conviction and a death sentence in 1982. He
was freed in 1996,
after a judge found that the trial attorney had
committed glaring errors.

The lawsuit argued Las Vegas public defenders
routinely gave lie detector
tests to defendants and used the results to decide how
vigorous the
defense should be.

Miranda, a native Cuban, also claimed whites and
members of the Mormon
church got better legal help than minorities and
non-Mormons.

``We're glad for all parties involved that we can put
this behind us
now,'' said Mary Miller, Clark County counsel. She
said many improvements
have been made at the defenders' office, and the
insurance-covered
settlement ``closes the door on that chapter.''

Miranda, one of about 125,000 Cubans who came to the
United States in 1980
in the Mariel boatlift, repeatedly argued that someone
else committed the
1981 slaying that led to his death sentence.

Ten years after the stabbing death of Manuel Rodriguez
Torres, a federal
judge appointed a new attorney for Miranda. That
lawyer helped persuade a
state judge to grant Miranda a new trial, and
prosecutors later declined
to proceed with the case.

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Source : Associated Press

Yay! Thats good news. Its such ashame though that he had to be away fr so many years