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For nearly thirty years. Ron Mortensen said the jury never
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heard the full story. He said Christopher Brady was protected,
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that the evidence had been mishandled, and that the state
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askedurors to trust a man who had every reason to
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save himself. In some ways, he was right, but.
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A trial can have real flaws without making a convicted
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man innocent, and a guilty man can use the truth
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about someone else's misconduct to turn himself into the victim
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for Daniel's murder. The legal questions are complicated, but the
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moral questions remain painfully clear.
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Hi, and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas
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true crime podcast where we focus on missing persons, unsolved cases,
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and the number one cause of homicide in the Las
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Vegas area, domestic violence. I'm your host Sean.
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And I'm your co host John.
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Welcome to part seven of our series on the murder
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of Daniel Mendoza. If you have not listened to parts
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one through six, yet we strongly recommend going back and
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starting there. This is a case where the details build
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on each other, and at this point in the story
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we are deep in the legal aftermath. We recommend you
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start at sinspod dot Co Slash one twenty nine. Last week,
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we talked about what happened after Ron Mortenson's conviction, Ramone's
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civil lawsuit, the fight for civilian police oversight, Christopher Brady's
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attempt to return to law enforcement, and Ramone's devastating statement
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that years later, police were still harassing his youngest son.
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Part six was about whether Las Vegas really changed after
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Daniel's murder. This week, we turned back to Ron Mortenson.
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While the city debated reform, while Christopher Brady faced a
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federal civil rights case, while Daniel's family fought for accountability
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in a civil suit. Mortenson kept insisting that he was
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not the man who fired the shots. In the years
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that followed, some of the points he made in his
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appeals raised real questions.
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Before we go any further, we want to be clear
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about where we are coming from, based on the eyewitness testimony,
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the physical evidence, the position of the men in the
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truck and the fact that the murder weapon was Mortenson's gone.
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We believe the jury did not make a mistake in
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convicting Ron Mortensen for Daniel Mendoza's murder. However, we also
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believe that Christopher Brady should have been prosecuted for his
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role in what happened that night. Brady's misconduct doesn't make
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Mortenson innocent, but the decision not to charge Brady left
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a space in this case for doubt to seep in.
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All The unanswered questions about Brady and the flaws and
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the investigation became part of Mortenson's argument and another reason
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to say the jury had not heard the full story.
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Mortenson's appeals painted him as a victim of Metro from
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the beginning. His defense was built on one claim Christopher
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Brady was the shooter and Metro protected Brady because he
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was connected. That argument kept coming back year after year,
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motion after motion, hearing after hearing.
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Just a quick recap, we believe that the state's case
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against Mortenson was not weak. At trial, Prosecutors had eyewitnesses
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who described the shooter as being the passenger in the truck,
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a larger white man wearing glasses. Mortenson was admittedly sitting
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in the passenger seat, and he was larger than Brady
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and wore glasses. The gun that fired the fatal shots
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was Mortensen's sig Sour. According to the state's firearm expert,
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the physical evidence supported the theory that the gun had
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been fired from outside of the passenger side of the truck,
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and that it was likely the truck was moving when
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the shots were fired. Mortenson never accepted the jury's verdict.
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At sentencing, he apologized to Daniel's family, but he still
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maintained that Brady was the shooter. He stated in court
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that he was a scapegoat for years of misconduct inside Metro,
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the rookie officer chosen to take the fall for the
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department's larger problems. That word scapegoat became central to the
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way Mortensen presented himself for the next thirty years. In
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August of nineteen ninety eight, more than a year after
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Mortenson's conviction, Frank Kremin was preparing the first major appeal,
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and the argument was essentially the same one he had
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made a trial. The jury, he said, had not heard
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the full story about Christopher Brady and about the evidence
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that might have made the state's key witness look very different.
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One of the clearest examples was Brady's truck. As we
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have already discussed, the truck was a critical piece of
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evidence for both sides because the case turned on what
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was physically possible for Brady to do or to not
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do while inside the cab, but also, since Brady had
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control of his truck, he had made modifications to it
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before the trial started. While it was eventually restored to
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the way it looked the night of the murder. As
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we dis discussed, that just led to more unanswered questions
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and cast more suspicion on Brady.
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On appeal, Kremen argued that the changes to the truck
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mattered because they made it harder to test visibility movement
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and whether Brady could have reached across the cab in
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a way that Mortenson described. He later summed up the
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defense's frustration by saying that after a lot of effort,
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the truck was finally delivered to him, but it was
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delivered late and changed, with the tint removed, the clothing laundered,
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and the seat already taken out. Then he asked the
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question that became the theme of the appeal, who was
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telling the truth. The courts did not agree that the
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changes to the truck were enough to overturn the verdict.
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The jury had seen the truck with the custom seat reinstalled,
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jurors were allowed to sit inside it, and the defense
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was able to argue that Brady could have reached across
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the cab if the seat was positioned in a certain way.
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Later courts concluded that Mortensen had not shown enough prejudice
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that the changes to the truck justified a new trial.
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But even though the legal argument failed, the optics were
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still terrible. Even though the messy investigation does not erase
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the eyewitness as another evidence, they created an opening, and
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because Brady was never prosecuted, every flaw around Brady became
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something Mortenson could point to and say, this is why
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you should have believed me.
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Instead, that same argument applied to the evidence the jury
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did not hear or heard only partially about Brady himself.
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Since Brady was the witness the state chose to build
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their case around, his credibility became one of the most
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important issues in Mortenson's appeals. As we discussed in Part five,
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excluded or limited evidence admitted about Brady involved internal affairs
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complaints and allegations about Brady's conduct as an officer, including
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claims that he had pulled a gun on people or
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roughed people up. Some of those allegations were unproven, and
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the trial judge limited them because the court did not
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find them reliable enough or relevant enough to put in
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front of the jury. There was also Carrie Morris had
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accused Brady of sexual misconduct during a traffic stop, an
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allegation that was never charged and the prosecutors viewed with
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credibility concerns. But after Mortenson's conviction, it became clear that
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Morris had described Brady using language that sounded strikingly similar
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to something Mortenson claimed Brady said after Daniel's shooting. Mortenson
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testified that Brady told him I told you I was
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an evil man. I am evil. Morris said that Brady
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had used similar language with her for the defense. That
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mattered because it was such an unusual phrase, and if
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Mortenson had made up the evil man line, Morris's separate
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account could look like corroboration of at least that part
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of his story. It is another element to show that
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the jury had not heard everything that might have changed
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how they understood Christopher Brady. However, the courts were not persuaded,
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finding that Morris's statement did not have a close enough
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connection to Daniel's murder and probably would not have produced
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a different result at a new trial. But for Morton
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since supporters, it became one more piece of the same
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larger claim that the state had asked the jury to
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trust Brady without letting the jury see the full picture
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of who Brady might have been.
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The prosecution had a similar issue with Mark Barry. During
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Mortenson's trial in nineteen ninety seven, Frank Kremen said he
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received an anonymous call about Christopher Brady. The caller claimed
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that Brady had once told fellow officer Mark Barry that
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he wanted to do a drive by shooting. At the time,
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prosecutors said an investigator had spoken with Barry and Barry
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had called the allegation nonsense, so the jury never heard it.
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In July of nineteen ninety eight, though after Mortensen had
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been convicted, Mark Barry testified before a federal grand jury
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investigating possible civil rights violations in Daniel's death. As you
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might recall from our earlier episode, Barry testified to that
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grand jury that Brady had mentioned doing a drive by
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more than once, but he didn't take Brady serious. Essentially,
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what he said was that once this thing Brady had
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joked about actually happened, he'd put two and two together.
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That testimony became a major appellate issue because it went
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directly to Brady's credibility and possibly to his motive. In
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August of nineteen ninety eight, the issue is serious enough
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that District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski ordered an evidentiary hearing to
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determine whether Mortenson deserved a new trial. Legal experts quoted
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at the time said that if Barry's testimony was credible,
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it could be important. It could raise serious questions about Brady,
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not just as a bad witness, but as a person
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who may have talked about doing the very type of
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crime that later happened. The ACLU of Nevada also weighed in.
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Gary Peck said he didn't want to prejudge the case,
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but if the accounts of the federal grand jury testimony
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were accurate, Mortenson should have an opportunity for the evidence
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to come out.
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In October of nineteen ninety eight, the hearing on Mortenson's
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request for a new trial was held in front of
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District Judge Joseph Pavlkowski. Frank Kremin leaned into the testimony
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from officer Mark Barry. Barry did not say Brady had
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ever laid out a specific plan, and he described the
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comments as the kind of thing said while drinking, joking,
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blowing off steam, and talking about work. However, Barry was
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not the only officer whose testimony raised questions about the
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culture in Metro. Another officer testified that Brady and other
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officers sometimes talked about certain neighborhoods, including the area near
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McKellar's Circle, as if they were filled with worthless or
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bad people. A former officer, William Butler, said some of
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those conversations were jokes or venting after stressful shifts, but
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he also described talk about certain areas needing to be
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napalmed and jokes about contract hits to wipe out certain
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people in certain neighborhoods. For Kremen, this all suggested that
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Daniel's neighborhood was not just a random place Brady and
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Mortensen ended up in that night, but a place some
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officers had already talked about with content. We're going to
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pause here for a quick break, but we'll be right
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back to discuss an issue with the physical evidence that
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we haven't yet talked about during this series.
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Tory Johnson, the police firearms expert, had been one of
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the major witnesses at Mortenson's trial. Johnson had written notes
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during the trial that were apparently not turned over to
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the defense until later through attorneys involved in the Mendoza
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family's civil lawsuit that we discussed last week. Johnson's notes
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involved the fatal bullet. Because the bullet that killed Daniel
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passed through his body and was never recovered, Johnson had
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written notes speculating about whether the bullet might have come
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from a gun more powerful than Mortenson's three eighty sig
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sour to Kremen. That opened the door to another question,
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whether the jury had heard everything it should have heard
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about the ballistics evidence. Johnson testified that he had been
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concerned about the issue during the trial, but he also
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denied that he meant that the three to eighty could
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not have fired the fatal shot. He explained that the
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caliber of the bullet cannot necessarily be to herman from
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the size of a wound, and prosecutors argued that the
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new ballistics questions did not amount to a new theory
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of the murder. Deputy District Attorney Gary Gyman argued that
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none of the new material justified a new trial. He
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said the state's case had been supported by five eye
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witnesses and was not built solely on Brady's credibility. It
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was not enough to undo the jury's verdict.
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At the end of the hearing, Judge Pavlikowski took the
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matter under advisement. As Mortensen was let out of the
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courtroom in chains, he silently made his own argument for
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the press and the cameras in the courtroom. According to
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the Review Journal, he flashed a sign with the words
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metro political prisoner. That image captured the appeal in one strange,
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uncomfortable moment, legitimate questions being raised inside the courtroom while
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Mortensen tried to cast himself as the victim of a
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police department conspiracy. Later that month, Judge Pavlkowski denied Mortenson's
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request for a new trial, but the very issue did
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not go away. Mortenson took the argument to the Nevada
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Supreme Court, where the justices later agreed that Barry's testimony
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had not been discoverable with reasonable diligence before trial, but
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still concluded that it was not likely to produce a
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different result. So the door stayed closed at least for then.
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But the argument had been preserved, and the same question
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would keep following the case for decades. If Brady was
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the state's key witness, how much did the jury have
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the right to know about what he allegedly said and
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done before deciding whether to believe him.
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In nineteen ninety nine, Mortenson brought forth a challenge based
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on one of the witnesses against him, Reuben Ramirez, during
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the trial in nineteen ninety seven, Ramirez was one of
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the eyewitnesses who identified Mortenson as the shooter. He had
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not identified Mortenson in the first photo lineup, but after
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seeing Mortenson's photo, he identified him in a physical lineup
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the next day and then again at trial. His testimony
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was important because he said the passenger signaled for people
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to come closer and then fired from the window. He
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also said he couldn't see the driver clearly because the
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passenger blocked his view. As a part of his pursuit
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of a new trial, Mortensen's legal team argued that the
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state had failed to disclose Ramirez's criminal history. The allegedly
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undisclosed information included several incidents, including a nineteen ninety six
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misdemeanor for firearm driving case, a nineteen ninety seven domestic
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violence complaint, an April nineteen ninety seven conspiracy to commit
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00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:31.000
burglary attempted robbery case, and an April nineteen ninety seven
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citation for possession of a bludgeoning device. However, a March
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nineteen ninety seven alleged incident where Ramirez had sold drugs
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to an undercover agent was key to the defense's argument.
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The incident had led to federal charges against Ramirez. The
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buye happened before the trial, but did not result in
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Ramirez's arrest until after the trial. The defense argument was
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that Ramirez was an important eye witness and the jury
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should have known more about his potential crimes because it
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could have affected his credibility. Ramirez had testified that on
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the night Daniel was killed, he had gone outside to
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smoke a cigarette and had not been drinking or using drugs,
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and neither he nor his associates had a gun. The
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defense theory was basically, if Ramirez was involved in a
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meth sale before trial, the jury should have known that
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when weighing his credibility, the arrest also suggested that he
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had reasons to testify and cooperate with the state. The
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Nevada Supreme Court rejected that argument. The court said that
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Ramirez's criminal history didn't matter because the jury already knew
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Ramirez was an Eighteenth Street gang member and knew the
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gang was involved in drug related activity. All of his
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00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:43.440
criminal history was available before trial, except for the undercover
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drug buy that resulted in arrest. After the trial, additional
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information about Ramirez his criminal history would not likely have
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changed the verdict given the evidence against him. In summary,
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Mortenson's appeals often focused on each individual flaw Brady Barry, Morris,
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the truck, Ramirez, and on and on, and the argument
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that if the jury had known, they would have found
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him not guilty. But the state's response always amounted to
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the fact that no single flaw in the case changed
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00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:15.480
the overall picture. No single witness or missing detail could
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overcome the eyewitness descriptions, the physical evidence, and the use
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of Mortenson's very own weapon.
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For a long time, the courts agreed with the state.
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The conviction remained in place, and Mortensen stayed in prison
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as appeal. After appeal failed, in November of nineteen ninety eight,
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the RJ interviewed Mortensen from prison. At the time, he
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was in an Ohio maximum security facility far from Las Vegas,
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living in what he called his living hell. Mortenson said
295
00:16:44.679 --> 00:16:46.919
he woke up in a small cell, put on a
296
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light blue prison uniform, and went to work caring for
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00:16:50.120 --> 00:16:53.120
flowers and plants. He said the flowers were his only
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mental salvation from an otherwise monotonous prison life. He also
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00:16:57.399 --> 00:17:00.960
said being a former police officer made prison danger. He
300
00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:04.680
said the other prisoners around him, men convicted of murder, rape,
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drug offenses, gang crimes, do not know that he had
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00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:09.680
been a cop, and that he had to keep it
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a secret for his own safety. During that interview, he
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00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:17.279
continued to claim innocence. Mortensen said he was not a killer.
305
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He said he did not go to Daniel's neighborhood to
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00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:22.720
harass anyone. He said he had no choice but to
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go along that night because of Brady, and that Brady
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00:17:25.880 --> 00:17:29.160
was the person who fired the shots. In this case,
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00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:32.880
the question of innocence is complicated and layered. There is
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the idea of legal innocence. Did Mortenson fire the shots
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and did the state prove first degree murder beyond a
312
00:17:37.799 --> 00:17:41.279
reasonable doubt. But there's also the question of moral responsibility.
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What responsibility does a police officer carry when he participates
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in a night of harassment that ends with an innocent
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00:17:47.799 --> 00:17:48.680
young man dead.
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In late nineteen ninety eight, Mortensen responded to the interview
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with a letter to the Review Journal, where he accused
318
00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:57.960
the newspaper of leaving out much of what he had said.
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00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:02.039
He accused Metrahama side detectives of protecting Brady and using
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00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:04.640
smoke and mirrors, and he said he was set up
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00:18:04.680 --> 00:18:08.480
as a symbolic sacrifice to protect Brady. He wrote that
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00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:11.559
he blamed Christopher Brady for destroying his life and ending
323
00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:17.039
Daniel Mendoza's. Years passed, claims were raised and rejected, more
324
00:18:17.079 --> 00:18:20.799
appeals were filed than denied. Brady's federal case came and went,
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The Review Board was created. The public moved on to
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00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:28.359
other scandals, other headlines, other fights with Metro, but Mortenson
327
00:18:28.440 --> 00:18:32.400
wouldn't stop. By the mid two thousands, his long campaign
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00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:34.480
to prove his innocence went off the rails in a
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00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:37.920
bizarre turn. We're going to pause here for our second break,
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but we'll be back to discuss the desperate axe Mortenson
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00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:43.640
allegedly took to get out of prison, which involved scamming
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00:18:43.799 --> 00:18:47.319
his own grandmother. In March of two thousand and five,
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Mortenson had been brought back to Las Vegas from the
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Ohio prison where he was serving his life sentence so
335
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he could await another appeal proceeding. This was another stage
336
00:18:56.599 --> 00:18:58.839
in the legal fight he had been waging for years,
337
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another attempt to convince a court that the jury had
338
00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:04.720
not heard the full story about Christopher Brady, the evidence
339
00:19:04.759 --> 00:19:09.200
and the allegations that surfaced after the trial. According to
340
00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:12.519
the reporting summarized in our case Materials, this may have
341
00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:15.079
been his final serious bid for a new trial, and
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00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:19.759
he needed money, allegedly to influence the judge presiding over
343
00:19:19.799 --> 00:19:23.960
his hearing. Mortenson had decided the easiest way to access
344
00:19:23.960 --> 00:19:27.720
some money would be through his elderly grandmother, Doris Kosovel.
345
00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:31.160
Doris was in her late eighties by then, she was
346
00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:33.759
in a Las Vegas nursing home, and she owned, through
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00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:37.240
a trust, a piece of California beachfront property in more Obey.
348
00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:41.599
Mortenson's mother had been helping care for Doris, and according
349
00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:44.759
to record of conversations. She didn't want the family's resources
350
00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:49.240
drained in Iron's case. Mortenson did not take this very well.
351
00:19:49.400 --> 00:19:52.359
On one recording, Mortenson referred to his mother as his
352
00:19:52.599 --> 00:19:55.880
stupid mother because in his view, she was standing in
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00:19:55.880 --> 00:19:59.200
the way of the property being used for him. His mother,
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00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:01.480
from what we can tell well, was saying that the
355
00:20:01.480 --> 00:20:04.480
family needed to care for Doris, not spend the estate's
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00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:08.759
biggest asset on Ron's legal fight. Mortensen saw the Morrol
357
00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:11.960
Bay House as a financial lifeline to possibly buy influence
358
00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:15.079
around the appeal he believed could set him free. So
359
00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:18.000
Mortensen wrote to his grandmother Doris and asked her to
360
00:20:18.039 --> 00:20:20.559
sign the house over to him. He asked one of
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00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:24.359
his supporters, former prosecutor Kenneth Long, to physically bring that
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00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:29.319
letter to her nursing home. Long's alleged and documented role
363
00:20:29.400 --> 00:20:32.759
in this whole detour feels almost unreal. He was familiar
364
00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:36.079
with the Mortenson case, he believed he was innocent, and
365
00:20:36.119 --> 00:20:39.480
he had become connected to his cause. He had recently
366
00:20:39.559 --> 00:20:43.759
run unsuccessfully for a Henderson judgeship. He had reportedly written
367
00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:46.039
the first one hundred pages or so about a book
368
00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:49.720
about Mortenson's murder case, and he had visited Mortenson in
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00:20:49.799 --> 00:20:53.960
jail at least fifteen times. The Review Journal described Long
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00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:56.880
as the kind of person who seemed, at least on paper,
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00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:01.720
above reproach, a former prosecutor, a Boy Scout leader, and
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00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:04.279
someone who had worked for the FBI in Idaho in
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00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:05.440
the late nineteen nineties.
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00:21:06.759 --> 00:21:09.480
Long later wrote in an affidavit that Doris was alert
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00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:12.119
and aware of her surroundings when he visited her, and
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00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:15.480
that she clearly stated several times that she wanted Ronald
377
00:21:15.480 --> 00:21:18.640
to have the California house and wanted to help him.
378
00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:21.240
The house was held in trust, but she signed the
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00:21:21.240 --> 00:21:25.200
house over to him and a jail guard notarized it. However,
380
00:21:25.559 --> 00:21:28.160
Mortensen was in prison and had no job, which made
381
00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:30.680
it difficult for him to get a loan against the property.
382
00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:34.680
Eddie Gould, another inmate, agreed to buy the Moro Bay
383
00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:37.839
property for one point three million dollars with no money
384
00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:42.759
down and two years to pay. Gould's plan, according to reporting,
385
00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:45.279
was to flip the house and make even more money.
386
00:21:46.200 --> 00:21:49.480
According to reporting in Los Angeles Times, he said that
387
00:21:49.559 --> 00:21:52.440
for deal like that he would parade down Fremont Street
388
00:21:52.440 --> 00:21:56.640
in Espeedo with nipple pasties. However, Eddie Gould was not
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00:21:57.000 --> 00:21:59.759
only another inmate, he was also a former FBI in
390
00:21:59.799 --> 00:22:02.839
fur Mormont, and he told authorities what Mortenson was trying
391
00:22:02.839 --> 00:22:06.039
to do. According to Gould, some of the money from
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00:22:06.039 --> 00:22:08.799
the sale of the property was intended to bribe the
393
00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:13.200
judge connected to Mortenson's appeal, Nancy Sayda. At the time.
394
00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:16.799
Judge Saida's husband, Joe Sayita, was a retired chief of
395
00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:19.640
the US Secret Service office in Las Vegas and an
396
00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:21.119
acquaintance of Kenneth Long.
397
00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:24.839
Long wrote an email to Mortenson's wife, Zoe, saying that
398
00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:28.119
he kept in contact with Sayda's husband and had told
399
00:22:28.200 --> 00:22:31.799
him his feelings about Ron's case, including his very blunt
400
00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:36.880
view that Mortenson's conviction was garbage. The FBI was reportedly
401
00:22:36.920 --> 00:22:40.240
interested in looking at Sayta because, according to the reporting,
402
00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:44.440
there had already been concerns about her taking campaign contributions
403
00:22:44.440 --> 00:22:47.640
from attorneys with cases in front of her. The FBI
404
00:22:48.119 --> 00:22:51.359
asked Gould to wear a wire. According to our research,
405
00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:54.519
Mortensen told Gould that he thought he would win on
406
00:22:54.599 --> 00:22:57.119
appeal because of all the errors in the case. He
407
00:22:57.160 --> 00:22:59.519
said he had not murdered anyone, and he expected that
408
00:22:59.559 --> 00:23:03.079
if his conviction was overturned, he could plead to something
409
00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:07.160
much less. Then Gould suggested that another one hundred thousand
410
00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:09.759
dollars would put the judge even more in his favor.
411
00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:15.039
Mortenson's response was not exactly comforting. He said, yeah, then
412
00:23:15.079 --> 00:23:18.480
one hundred grand really gets her predilections going, and he
413
00:23:18.519 --> 00:23:20.599
added that he hoped they could get it all together.
414
00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:24.920
He called the whole thing good politics. In one of
415
00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:28.319
the most revealing moments, Mortensen said, it's only illegal if
416
00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:31.839
we tell on ourselves or if we get ourselves caught. Gould,
417
00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:35.000
who had a history of racketeering, allegedly lied on the
418
00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:38.519
loan documents by claiming Mortensen was his stepfather, and he
419
00:23:38.599 --> 00:23:41.000
was able to secure a loan connected to the property.
420
00:23:41.799 --> 00:23:45.720
Days after the loan cleared, Gould's own criminal situation improved
421
00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:49.799
dramatically and his eleven felony charges were resolved through dismissals,
422
00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:54.559
suspended sentences, and probation, and Gould was released. Then, Gould
423
00:23:54.559 --> 00:23:57.480
met with Kenneth Long at Boulder Station Casino with a
424
00:23:57.480 --> 00:24:00.680
bag of cash with the help of the FBI. Hidden
425
00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:03.400
cameras were in place and Gould was wearing a wire.
426
00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:06.400
During the meeting. Long said he met with Joe Sayita
427
00:24:06.440 --> 00:24:09.119
and raised the question of what kind of influence Joe
428
00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:13.599
had over Nancy. Gould brought a letter from Mortenson addressed
429
00:24:13.640 --> 00:24:17.400
to Ken Kenneth Long, saying that only forty thousand dollars
430
00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:20.119
was available right then, but that Long should make the
431
00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:23.240
thirty thousand dollars payments as discussed and keep ten thousand
432
00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:26.960
dollars for himself. Long said he didn't want the money
433
00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:29.240
and he would put it in a money market an account.
434
00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:31.839
He also said something that sounded at a minimum like
435
00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:34.400
he understood the danger of what was being discussed. He
436
00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:37.279
said that personally he thought giving the money to Sayta
437
00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:40.279
would backfire, and that if Mortenson wanted to contribute to
438
00:24:40.279 --> 00:24:43.200
her campaign, Long would tell him that he should not,
439
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:47.279
or if he did, he should do it anonymously. Gould
440
00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:50.079
told Long to take it up with Mortensen and then left.
441
00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:53.680
When Mortensen didn't hear back from Gould, he became frustrated
442
00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:57.480
and contacted his mother. In that communication, Mortenson complained that
443
00:24:57.519 --> 00:24:59.599
he had not been able to go into every detail
444
00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:02.079
with Long about what to do with the money, which
445
00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:05.119
we all know is for Nancy, and he said he
446
00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:09.880
was not the one messing up Nancy's piece. Then the
447
00:25:09.960 --> 00:25:13.759
next day, Mortensen scolded Gould in a letter. He said,
448
00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:16.799
you decided not to pay Joe and Nancy not me.
449
00:25:17.799 --> 00:25:20.640
Mortinson wrote a second letter to his mother saying that
450
00:25:20.680 --> 00:25:23.680
a corrections officer had told Kenneth Long that Gould was
451
00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:26.640
a police informant and that Gould was wearing a wire.
452
00:25:27.559 --> 00:25:31.640
A Clark County corrections officer named Brian Hurrich later resigned
453
00:25:31.960 --> 00:25:35.759
amid allegations that he had blown Gould's cover. Hurridge said
454
00:25:35.799 --> 00:25:38.839
he did not intentionally tip off Mortenson, but said he
455
00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:41.920
jokingly speculated to Mortenson that Gould might have been wearing
456
00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:45.839
a wire. We find this whole story almost impossible to believe.
457
00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:49.680
A convicted former police officer housed in the Clark County
458
00:25:49.720 --> 00:25:54.240
Detention Center while fighting a murder conviction, allegedly tried to
459
00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:58.000
rout money through an elderly grandmother's property, possibly to bribe
460
00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:00.960
a judge, while a former sell me the informant where's
461
00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:04.000
a wire? A former prosecutor gets drawn into a cash
462
00:26:04.039 --> 00:26:07.680
meeting at Boulder Station casino, and a corrections officer allegedly
463
00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:10.599
tips off Mortenson that the informant is wearing a wire.
464
00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:14.279
When Kenneth Long was questioned by police. He denied knowing
465
00:26:14.279 --> 00:26:17.279
about any plan to bribe a judge, and he agreed
466
00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:20.880
to wear a wire himself and confront Mortensen. When Long
467
00:26:20.920 --> 00:26:23.839
spoke to Mortensen, he said, you can't contribute to a
468
00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:26.640
judge who's going to hear your case, and told Mortensen
469
00:26:26.680 --> 00:26:28.720
that he needed to hear him say he was not
470
00:26:28.839 --> 00:26:33.000
bribing a judge. Mortensen said he was embarrassed and denied it.
471
00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:36.839
Long pushed again, asking whether he could say, as a
472
00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:39.359
friend and as a fellow Mormon that he was not
473
00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:43.319
bribing a judge. Mortenson said, I'm not bribing a judge
474
00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:46.759
and added that he had no interest in bribing Judge Sayda.
475
00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:51.559
Judge Sayida and her husband also denied knowing about any plot.
476
00:26:52.839 --> 00:26:55.680
Mortenson and Long were charged with elder abuse connected to
477
00:26:55.720 --> 00:26:59.279
the attempt to obtain Doris's property. Long pleaded guilty to
478
00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:02.720
a gross misty demeanor, was fined two thousand dollars and
479
00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:07.039
lost his law license. Mortenson later entered an alfred plea
480
00:27:07.400 --> 00:27:11.240
to conspiracy to commit a crime. Both Gould and Mortenson
481
00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:14.920
ultimately lost their claims to Doris's house, and the property
482
00:27:14.920 --> 00:27:16.559
reverted back to the trust.
483
00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:21.079
Las Vegas prosecutors also charged Gould with fraud related to
484
00:27:21.079 --> 00:27:24.079
the falsified loan documents, and Gould insisted that he had
485
00:27:24.119 --> 00:27:27.400
done what he did at the direction of authorities. He
486
00:27:27.480 --> 00:27:30.759
sued police officers in federal court for civil rights violations,
487
00:27:30.920 --> 00:27:33.799
and through that lawsuit, discovery brought more of the alleged
488
00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:37.839
bribery and Elderview's scheme into public view. These documents also
489
00:27:37.880 --> 00:27:40.920
revealed that the investigation itself may have been compromised by
490
00:27:40.920 --> 00:27:43.920
the jailhouse league, and that one of the lead detectives
491
00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:46.079
in the probe had once testified that he was a
492
00:27:46.119 --> 00:27:51.240
friend of Mortenson. After seven postponements, Mortenson's long appeal finally
493
00:27:51.319 --> 00:27:54.119
went forward after more than two years after he had
494
00:27:54.519 --> 00:27:58.240
been brought back to Las Vegas, and Judge Douglas Herndon
495
00:27:58.359 --> 00:28:01.680
denied it. The Review Journal later summoned up the whole
496
00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:05.000
thing like this. The judge won election to the Nevada
497
00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:08.359
Supreme Court. The convicted kop lost the appeal he had
498
00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:12.519
allegedly hoped to influence. The corrections officer resigned under fire,
499
00:28:12.920 --> 00:28:15.680
the grandmother got her house back, and the prosecutor got
500
00:28:15.720 --> 00:28:19.039
a small fine for his part in cheating a senior citizen.
501
00:28:19.720 --> 00:28:21.440
It is also the kind of thing that made Mortensen
502
00:28:21.480 --> 00:28:24.279
a very difficult person to turn into a clean, innocent
503
00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:28.680
looking figure. Mortensen remained in prison. He continued to pursue
504
00:28:28.680 --> 00:28:33.000
state and federal relief. The courts continued to review, reject, narrow,
505
00:28:33.400 --> 00:28:35.480
or preserve pieces of his claims.
506
00:28:36.039 --> 00:28:38.480
One other issue that we mentioned briefly but never dived
507
00:28:38.519 --> 00:28:41.599
into fully was the issue of the jury instructions during
508
00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:44.400
the trial. At the time of the trial in nineteen
509
00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:47.359
ninety seven, Nevada courts were using what became known as
510
00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:51.559
the Kaslin instruction, which blurred the difference between premeditation and
511
00:28:51.640 --> 00:28:55.880
deliberation in first degree murder cases. A few years later,51200:28:56.000 --> 00:28:59.079
in a case called Byford, the Nevada Supreme Court said51300:28:59.119 --> 00:29:03.480
juries needed clear ar explanation of those terms. To simplify51400:29:03.480 --> 00:29:05.960
the issue. It was not enough for jurors to decide51500:29:06.000 --> 00:29:09.000
that a killing was intentional for first degree murder, they51600:29:09.039 --> 00:29:12.000
also had to be properly instructed on the separate requirement51700:29:12.039 --> 00:29:16.240
of deliberation. Deliberation requires the act to be more than51800:29:16.359 --> 00:29:20.640
impulsive or rash. Intent would be I meant to do it.51900:29:21.160 --> 00:29:23.920
Premeditation would be I had formed the idea to do52000:29:24.000 --> 00:29:27.799
it before I did it. Deliberation means I actually thought52100:29:27.839 --> 00:29:31.839
about doing it, even briefly, rather than acting on pure impulse.52200:29:32.759 --> 00:29:36.160
The jury in Mortenson's trial needed to be instructed about52300:29:36.160 --> 00:29:39.759
the difference based on that issue. Nearly twenty eight years52400:29:39.839 --> 00:29:42.640
after the jury convicted Ron Mortenson a first degree murder,52500:29:42.960 --> 00:29:47.279
on March thirty first, twenty twenty five, US District Judge52600:29:47.440 --> 00:29:52.240
Kent Dawson overturned his conviction and ruled that Mortenson was52700:29:52.400 --> 00:29:55.599
entitled to a new trial. The jury had been asked52800:29:55.599 --> 00:29:58.400
to decide whether Mortenson committed first degree murder, but the52900:29:58.440 --> 00:30:02.000
instruction did not adequately explain deliberation. The jury could have53000:30:02.000 --> 00:30:05.440
found the shooting was intentional, but not necessarily deliberate in53100:30:05.480 --> 00:30:08.599
the specific legal sense required for first degree murder.53200:30:09.759 --> 00:30:12.839
Judge Dawson also looked again at the Mark Barry issue.53300:30:13.160 --> 00:30:16.480
Although years earlier that a Supreme Court had rejected the53400:30:16.599 --> 00:30:19.720
argument that Barry's testimony would have mattered enough to change53500:30:19.759 --> 00:30:24.359
the result, Judge Dawson disagreed. He concluded that Barry's testimony53600:30:24.359 --> 00:30:27.759
could have changed the case by undermining Brady's credibility and53700:30:27.839 --> 00:30:30.119
exposing that Brady might have had a motive for the53800:30:30.119 --> 00:30:34.119
shooting that Mortenson did not. And with that, nearly thirty53900:30:34.160 --> 00:30:37.640
years after Daniel Mendoza was killed, Ron Mortenson was granted54000:30:37.640 --> 00:30:40.480
a new trial, reopening the case that people thought had54100:30:40.480 --> 00:30:43.759
been long settled. The ruling stunned both of us and54200:30:44.000 --> 00:30:47.240
motivated us to bring you this series. Next week and54300:30:47.279 --> 00:30:50.319
our final part, we'll look at what happened after that ruling.54400:30:51.160 --> 00:30:54.279
Now that the conviction had been overturned nearly thirty years later,54500:30:54.599 --> 00:30:57.000
the state had a lot to consider when it decided54600:30:57.000 --> 00:30:59.440
what to do next. Did they retry a case from54700:30:59.480 --> 00:31:03.319
nineteen nine? Can they even find witnesses they need to testify?54800:31:03.920 --> 00:31:05.880
Does the Mendoza family have to live through this whole54900:31:05.880 --> 00:31:09.359
thing again if they don't retry Mortenson? What happens if55000:31:09.400 --> 00:31:12.400
he just walks free? Vegas is not the same city55100:31:12.519 --> 00:31:15.039
was in nineteen ninety seven, but nearly thirty years later,55200:31:15.319 --> 00:31:18.720
this case is reopening in a city still wrestling with55300:31:18.759 --> 00:31:22.319
the same question. Daniel's murder forced into the open. What55400:31:22.440 --> 00:31:25.000
happens when the people sworn to protect a community become55500:31:25.000 --> 00:31:28.920
the danger. Until next week, we remind you what happens55600:31:28.920 --> 00:31:52.039
here happens everywhere. Thanks for listening, visit sinspod dot co,55700:31:52.240 --> 00:31:56.079
slash subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to listen ad free.55800:31:57.079 --> 00:32:00.839
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violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources56400:32:18.240 --> 00:32:21.160
or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources56500:32:21.200 --> 00:32:24.400
is available on our website, Sins and Survivors dot com.56600:32:24.799 --> 00:32:28.240
Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research,56700:32:28.279 --> 00:32:31.240
written and produced by your hosts Sean and John. The56800:32:31.319 --> 00:32:33.759
information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time56900:32:33.759 --> 00:32:37.160
of recording. If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please57000:32:37.200 --> 00:32:39.960
email us. Links to source material for this episode can57100:32:40.000 --> 00:32:43.960
be found on our website, Sinsensurvivors dot com.57200:32:44.160 --> 00:32:47.160
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely57300:32:47.240 --> 00:32:51.519
those of the podcast creators, hosts, and their guests. All57400:32:51.559 --> 00:32:55.480
individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not57500:32:55.640 --> 00:32:59.640
constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal57600:32:59.640 --> 00:33:00.839
profession knows for guidance.
