A state court in US was expected to rehear the case of a Tongan death row inmate convicted of murdering a police officer in Reno, Nevada in 1998.
A Nevada news media report said another hearing was scheduled for this month.
Siaosi Vanisi was convicted in the beating death of police
officer George Sullivan while in his patrol car at a parking lot near an
information kiosk between UNR’s Morrill Hall and Manzanita Lake.
Sullivan had 10 blows to his face, seven to his scalp area,
two on the upper part of his body and another to the left hand that nearly
severed two fingers, an autopsy report said.
This was not the first time Vanisi’s death case had been challenged in court.
In
his latest appeal in September 2017, the Nevada Supreme Court sent the
case back for an evidentiary hearing to decide whether Vanisi was prejudiced by
his appellate lawyer’s failure to investigate and present possible mitigating
evidence that could have prevented jurors from imposing the death sentence.
However, his post-conviction lawyers decided to pursue a motion
challenging Vanisi’s mental competency, which the high court unanimously agreed
was “objectively unreasonable.”
They directed the district court to address “whether trial counsel
should have discovered and presented the (mitigation) evidence as well as
whether there was a reasonable probability of a different outcome at the
penalty hearing had this additional mitigation evidence been presented.”
But the Supreme Court rejected more than a dozen other challenges to
Vanisi’s conviction and sentence, including the argument he should have been
allowed to plead insanity.
In an appeal in 2010, Vanisi’s lawyers raised numerous
challenges to his death sentence, including that a judge erred by determining
he was mentally competent to assist in post-conviction appeals.
But the Nevada Supreme court has denied it.
According to a Reno Gazette Journal report this week, “Another hearing in state court has been set in 2019,”
for Vanisi.
It said his attorneys continue
to pursue his case in state court, despite Vanisi’s wish to waive his remaining
state court claims.
In a previous appeal in 2001, the Nevada Supreme Court said “The
evidence of Vanisi’s guilt in this case is overwhelming.”
It said: “During a visit to Reno in January 1998, Vanisi told
several friends and relatives that he wanted to murder and rob a police
officer.
“Makeleta Kavapalu testified that Vanisi indicated that “he was
going to kill a police officer with his ax.”
“Sateki Taukiuvea testified that Vanisi said that he wanted to
kill a police officer and take his badge, radio, gun, and belt.
The defence called a number of witnesses, including Vanisi’s
relatives.
Some of the witnesses indicated that Vanisi had changed in the
last few years. For example, Vanisi’s wife testified that Vanisi had been friendly,
outgoing, and kind but began to change in late 1995 and 1996. At times Vanisi
became violent and abusive, he exhibited poor hygiene and bizarre behavior, he
would ramble, and he lacked a sense of reality. Vanisi would sometimes pose
in front of a mirror pretending to be different people and would dress as a
superhero. Eventually, Vanisi’s wife left him. Testimony at the penalty
phase indicated that drug use by Vanisi might have been a factor in his changed
behavior.
The defense also called a psychiatrist, Dr. Ole Thienhaus, who
treated patients at the county jail, including Vanisi. Thienhaus testified
that his initial diagnosis of Vanisi indicated possible bipolar disorder, also
known as manic depression, or cyclothymia, a similar condition.
However, Thienhaus testified that this kind of “out-of-control”
behavior was impulsive and inconsistent with planning for a crime.
