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Thread: Avram Vineto Nika - Nevada

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    Avram Vineto Nika - Nevada


    Avram Vineto Nika


    Summary of Offense:

    Nika was convicted of the 1994 killing of Edward Smith, of Fallon, after he stopped to help Nika whose car had broken down on Interstate 80 east of Sparks. Nika beat Smith and shot him in the head, then dragged his body off the side of the road.

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    December 31, 2008

    Supreme Court rejects petition in Reno murder case

    The Nevada Supreme Court has refused to overturn a conviction and death sentence imposed on Avram Nika.

    He was convicted of the August 1994 murder of a Reno man who stopped along Interstate 80 to help him after his car broke down. The victim, Edward Smith, suffered 3 skull fractures and a bullet wound to the forehead.

    Nika was arrested 5 days later in Chicago driving Smith's BMW.

    After his conviction, he petitioned the court arguing his counsel was ineffective during trial. The Supreme Court granted him an evidentiary hearing into his claims, which concluded his trial lawyer was not ineffective.

    He petitioned again arguing the prosecution withheld information about an agreement with a jailhouse informant who testified Nika had admitted the killing.

    When that petition was rejected, he filed another version raising a laundry list of complaints including that jury instructions in his trial were faulty and that there were numerous errors in his penalty hearing.

    The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday there were no serious flaws in the jury instructions because the new rule he said wasn't properly applied didn't exist until after Nika's case was decided.

    5 members of the court rejected all of Nika's claims for relief. But 2 justices, Michael Cherry and Nancy Saitta, filed a dissenting opinion. They agreed with the majority in rejecting Nika's claims the guilty verdict should be thrown out. But they said they would grant him a new penalty hearing because of several problems which, taken together, prejudiced Nika at sentencing. Among those is that he is from Romania and spoke very limited English at the time.

    The high court granted a new penalty hearing in a Las Vegas death sentence case.

    Edward Lee Jones was convicted of the 1991 death of his girlfriend Pamela Williams. She was stabbed 36 times with a butcher knife.

    The justices unanimously agreed that Jones was not properly represented by counsel during his penalty hearing. They cited numerous examples of prosecutorial misconduct during closing argument, arguing facts that weren't in evidence including that the victim — Jones' girlfriend — begged for her life and that her son was traumatized by seeing her body.

    "These egregious instances of prosecutorial misconduct occurred throughout the penalty phase closing argument," the court wrote.

    Yet the defense lawyer made no objections. In addition, the defense conducted no investigation to counter prosecution arguments calling for a death sentence.

    "Because Jones was prejudiced by counsel's omissions, we conclude that he is entitled to a new penalty hearing," they concluded.

    (Source: The Nevada Appeal)

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    On April 7, 2009, Nika filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/nev...cv00178/65458/

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    Serbia Intervenes to Try to Block Nevada Execution

    With echoes of a recent case in Texas, advocates for a convicted murderer in Nevada are arguing that he should be let off death row because Nevada officials allegedly denied the Serbian national the sort of consular services to which he allegedly is entitled under the Vienna Convention.

    Avram Nika (pictured) was convicted of shooting Edward Smith east of Reno in August 1994 and was sentenced to death, according to this appellate ruling in the Nika case.

    The Government of Serbia has intervened in the case, the first time the country has done so, contending in a brief filed this week that Nika couldn’t speak English at the time of his arrest and was denied translation and consular services by the Nevada authorities.

    As a result, the government alleges, Nika could not effectively participate in his trial and put on a perfunctory defense that offered no mitigating evidence, according to this statement by Reprieve, a U.K. human-rights group that represents Nika.

    In its brief, Serbia expresses “grave doubts as to the validity of the death sentence rendered against Mr Nika.”

    The Law Blog has sought comment from the Nevada Attorney General’s office.

    Earlier this year, President Obama and his Solicitor General’s Office sought to delay the execution of Texas inmate Humberto Leal Garcia Jr. on the grounds that Texas law enforcement officials failed to tell Leal, a Mexican citizen, that the Vienna Convention afforded him the right to notify Mexican consular authorities about his arrest and to seek their help with legal representation.

    The Obama administration was concerned that if the U.S. does not abide by its Vienna Convention duties then foreign governments may feel emboldened to ignore the consular rights of U.S. nationals abroad. Texas went ahead with the execution last month

    http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/08/12/...ada-execution/

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    Death row inmate loses latest bid to overturn death penalty for 1994 Good Samaritan murder

    A Reno judge denied another appeals request by the “Good Samaritan Killer” whose been on death row the last 16 years fighting his 1995 murder conviction for killing and robbing a Fallon man who tried to help him when his car was stranded on U.S. Interstate 80.

    Washoe District Court Judge Patrick Flanagan on Nov. 2 dismissed all of Avram Nika’s appeals claims that ranged from various ineffective counsel allegations to that he was prejudiced by not involving the Serbian consulate in his case.

    In August, the Serbian government filed a brief with Washoe District Court contending their assistance could have prevented Nika’s death sentence because they could have translated for him and obtained mitigating information about his life. However, Deputy District Attorney Terry McCarthy said that Yugoslavian consulates did not exist when Nika was arrested in 1994.

    Flanagan wrote in his order that their assistance “would not have significantly diluted the probative value” of the strong evidence that led to Nika’s conviction. He also said that ineffective counsel claims raised in this most recent appeal have already been affirmed by the state and high courts and are a “successive petition.”

    “The jury still would have heard Nika was seen at the crime scene at the time of the murder, he was found in Chicago with the victim’s car, and that investigators found the victim’s blood splatter on his fanny pack, tennis shoes and cut-off jeans,” Flanagan wrote.

    Nika, 41, is a Romanian gypsy who spoke little English and told a jail house informant he killed Edward Smith because Smith supposedly called him a “vulgar” word, which in his culture could incite anger, court records show.

    Washoe County jurors in 1995 ruled Nika was guilty of Smith’s first-degree murder and sentenced him to death. Evidence showed that Nika’s Chrysler broke down on the highway on Aug. 26, 1994. He had been driving from California to Chicago. Two motorists stopped to help, but he refused and asked they call him a tow truck. After Smith drove up in his BMW to help Nika, he was struck in the head with a crow bar and a rock and shot in the head. Trial evidence showed the trigger was pulled as the gun was pointed directly on his forehead. At least one of the injuries to the back of the head occurred when he was lying face down, court records show.

    Nika then stole Smith’s car and drove to Chicago, where he was found two days later with the car and items that contained Smith’s blood, court records show. Authorities said the killing was random and motivated by Nika’s need of a car to continue traveling to Chicago to be with his relatives. Smith’s body was found the day after his murder, lying near railroad tracks and a barbed wire fence, which hung his pants.

    Nika told investigators he did not kill Smith, and had purchased Smith’s car. Authorities said they never found the gun used in the slaying. Nika’s attorneys later claimed Smith was killed after Nika was merely defending himself after Smith supposedly threatened him with a gun.

    The Nevada Supreme Court has already dismissed many of the same claims Nika recently brought before Flanagan. Nika is still appealing his sentence in federal court, where his execution was blocked while Flanagan made his ruling. Prosecutors have 30 days to file a motion with the federal court to lift his stay of execution.

    http://www.rgj.com/article/20111108/...sey=nav%7Chead

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    Nevada Supreme Court rejects appeals in 3 death-penalty cases

    By Cy Ryan
    The Las Vegas Sun

    CARSON CITY — Three killers on death row, two from Clark County, have lost their appeals to the Nevada Supreme Court.

    The court, in a 5-2 decision by Chief Justice Mark Gibbons, rejected the appeal of Alfonso M. Blake, who fatally shot two women and wounded another in the desert outside of Las Vegas in March 2003.

    Blake fled to Los Angeles but was later arrested.

    In his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, Blake claimed his attorneys at trial and in his first appeal were ineffective. He offered an insanity defense at trial, a claim the court rejected.

    Justices Michael Cherry and Nancy Saitta dissented and said Blake “presented substantial and compelling new mitigating evidence showing that his childhood was disturbingly dysfunctional and abusive.” They said Blake’s prior attorney should have raised this issue.

    In a separate ruling, the court unanimously denied the fifth appeal of Samuel Howard, sentenced to death for the March 1980 fatal shooting of Dr. George Monahan in Las Vegas.

    Howard maintained his attorneys were ineffective in his past appeals.

    The court also rejected the latest appeal of Avram V. Nika, sentenced to death for the 1994 fatal shooting of Edward Smith, who had stopped to assist Nika on the freeway 20 miles outside of Reno.

    http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2014...3-death-penal/

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    No. 14-8568 *** CAPITAL CASE ***
    Title:
    Avram Vineto Nika, Petitioner
    v.
    Renee Baker, Warden, et al.
    Docketed: February 24, 2015
    Linked with 14A763
    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Nevada
    Case Nos.: (59776)
    Decision Date: July 30, 2014
    Rehearing Denied: October 23, 2014

    ~~~Date~~~ ~~~~~~~Proceedings and Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Jan 10 2015 Application (14A763) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from January 21, 2015 to February 20, 2015, submitted to Justice Kennedy.
    Jan 14 2015 Application (14A763) granted by Justice Kennedy extending the time to file until February 20, 2015.
    Feb 20 2015 Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due March 26, 2015)
    Mar 26 2015 Brief of respondents Renee Baker, Warden, et al. in opposition filed.
    Apr 7 2015 Reply of petitioner Avram Vineto Nika filed. (Distributed)
    Apr 9 2015 DISTRIBUTED for Conference of April 24, 2015.
    Apr 27 2015 Petition DENIED.

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/search.a...es/14-8568.htm

  8. #8
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    Death penalty overturned in I-80 Good Samaritan murder

    By Steve Timko
    KOLO News

    RENO, NV - A Serbian national who killed a Good Samaritan on Aug. 24, 1994, who stopped along Interstate 80 east of Sparks to help him had his death penalty overturned June 12.

    U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan upheld the guilty verdict against Avram Vineto Nika, 49, so he remains convicted of the murder of Edward Smith of Fallon.

    But Mahan ruled that Nika within 60 days must either get a non-death penalty prison sentence or must be scheduled for a new penalty hearing. Jury selection for the new penalty hearing must start within 180 days.

    The Washoe County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday it had not reviewed the decision and was not ready to comment on what it would do next.

    Nika’s car broke down on Interstate 80 west of the Derby Dam exit. Smith lived in Fallon but worked in a Reno-area Burger King. Nika killed Smith when he stopped to help him and took Smith’s car. Smith’s body was found the next day next to a fence between the railroad tracks and Interstate 80.

    Chicago authorities found Nika with Smith’s car less than a week later.

    A Washoe District Court jury convicted Nika of murder in July 1995 and sentenced him to death.

    Nika’s appeals wound through state and federal courts. Mahan ruled on Nika’s habeas corpus appeals. He ruled that Nika’s lawyers at trial did not present information about Nika’s tough childhood that may have swayed the jury to not give him the death penalty.

    Nika lived in poverty, the judge wrote. The family burned manure for fuel and he begged for food. His father was an alcoholic who beat Nika’s mother and his children.

    Additionally, the judge ruled that Nika’s lawyers failed to tell Nika he could contact the Yugoslavian consulate for help with an interpreter and get help mitigating the case against him, as allowed by the Vienna Convention.

    “The Court finds that Nika's trial counsel unreasonably failed, before trial, to advise Nika of his rights under the Vienna Convention and to contact the Yugoslavian consulate, and that, if Nika's trial counsel had contacted the Yugoslavian consulate before trial, and had, with the assistance of the consulate, developed evidence for presentation in mitigation in the penalty phase of Nika's trial, there is a reasonable probability that the outcome of the penalty phase of Nika's trial would have been different,” the judge wrote.

    https://www.kolotv.com/content/news/...511549561.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  9. #9
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On March 17, 2022, oral argument will be heard in the State of Nevada's appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

    https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/calenda...gs/101355.html

  10. #10
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    The panel hearing the State of Nevada's appeal will be made up of Judge Wardlaw (Clinton), Senior Judge Paez (Clinton) and M. Smith (G.W. Bush).

    https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/calenda...gs/102721.html

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