Court Opinion

ID: 9475653
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:34:22.773188+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:50.995836
License: Public Domain

CHAMBERS, Circuit Judge, dissenting.
If there be error in the record before us, I find it harmless. All I may say will not change the mind of any judge on the panel.
My Sister and Brother, I cannot believe that they think there is any doubt as to Neuschafer’s guilt. I read the majority as simply saying our district judge can make a better record and should not indulge in a gamble by one of our en bancs or risk the Supreme Court handling the case now. We cannot escape either. My belief is that a remand will only delay the conclusion of the case. Also, I believe we ought to get the case to the Supreme Court right now.
Now for a little musing:
America seems to have lost its former demand that the death penalty be enforced and promptly in those cases where it is appropriate. So, as a voter at the polls, I would vote against the penalty, likewise if I were a legislator. Of course, it is reaching the point where the death penalty does become a life sentence and the death rate from old age will be the cause of death for most of those under death sentences.
But I do fear the public is getting aroused. We may see a lot of blood letting such as we have had in California recently and community indignation may slip over to witch hunts. Witchcraft usually has a longer life than community indignation.
From the Nevada Supreme Court’s opinion, (1985) 101 Nev. 331, 705 P.2d 609, I conclude there are two notes written by Neuschafer which were entirely unsolicited, and they went into the record of the state trial court without objection. These are enough to convict him and justify the penalty without more. The interviews that involved the notes objected to on the basis of Miranda are just an instance of the prosecution’s overtrying its case.
Also, there is other independent evidence admitted which fortifies the notes.
So, I dissent.