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Thank you for your recent email regarding Clark County Coroner’s Inquest process.  During the September 5, 2010 Clark County Board of Commissioners’ meeting a nine-member committee was established to examine the current inquest process for police officer involved deaths.
 
This nine-member committee will be chaired by Christopher Blakesley, a UNLV Boyd School of Law professor.  Other members will include retired State Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Maupin, Sheriff Gillespie, and a representative will be appointed from each of the following groups: ACLU, NAACP, Las Vegas Police Protective Association, Clark County Coroner’s office, Clark County District Attorney’s office, and Clark County Public Defender’s office.
 
The committee will have until mid-November to review the current process and provide its recommendations to the Commission. These meetings have not been scheduled but will be open to the public and public comment.  The Commission plans to revisit the issue on December 7, 2010.
 
Thank you again for your input regarding this sensitive issue.  I will notify you of the meeting schedule and encourage your participation and involvement with the process review. 
 
Please feel free to contact my office if you have further questions or concerns.
 
Sincerely,
 
Steve Sisolak
Clark County Commissioner
District A

WE NEED TO CHANGE THE INQUEST PROCESS! They meet next Tuesday, October 5th. Please email all of the County Commissioners listed below by Monday. If you do not live in Las Vegas, tell them that you will not vacation or retire in their city simply because you don’t feel safe. You can use the template letter below or write your own. Please email this template to as many people that you know that may have an interest in this situation. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!!!

http://www.accessclarkcounty.com/depts/ ... ssion.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ccdistA@co.clark.nv.us
ccdistB@co.clark.nv.us
ccdistC@co.clark.nv.us
ccdistD@co.clark.nv.us
ccdistE@co.clark.nv.us
ccdistF@co.clark.nv.us
ccdistG@co.clark.nv.us
ccmgr@co.clark.nv.us




Dear County Commissioners,

I respectfully request that you change the Clark County Coroner's Inquest process to ensure ALL facts surrounding the death of any victim killed by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officers are presented fairly at the deceased's hearing. To that end, I request your immediate action to ensure the family's attorney can:

• Cross-examine all witnesses presented by the District Attorney, including the Metro officers involved.

• Challenge evidence presented by the District Attorney.

• Present witnesses on behalf of the victim's family.

• Present additional evidence.

• Require the Coroner, District Attorney and Metro police officials to disclose key evidence to the family's attorney prior to the inquest hearing, including homicide investigators' reports and the coroner's autopsy and toxicology reports.

• Further, the District Attorney must not be involved in the inquest process, because the DA is not an independent party.

• Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department detectives should not be allowed to investigate officer-involved incidents that result in death. Instead, an independent third party, which has no relationship or involvement with any Police Protective Association (PPA), should investigate all officer-involved shootings, accidents, etc.

• All findings of the third-party investigation must be shared with the victim's family, its attorney and representatives of the PPA at a pre-inquest meeting, prior to the formal hearing.

• The PPA should have its attorney at that meeting to assist in reviewing evidence and facts.

• In addition to the jury, members of an independent citizen's review board should be present at all inquest-related hearings, empowered to make inputs and evaluations. Its primary objective would be to ensure better training and avoid the use of excessive force by Metro officers.

• Jury instructions must be written and presented to jury members prior to the initiation of the formal inquest hearing.

• The inquest hearing should always be televised and video-streamed via Internet, enabling interested parties in the community to monitor all hearing proceedings.

Not implementing these changes virtually guarantees that a victim's hearing will be extremely one-sided, only carefully selected "facts" and data will be presented, and the DA's and Metro's focus will be on assassinating a victim's character, not on answering questions surrounding how and why the person was killed.

As it stands today, the ordinance governing the conduct of any Clark County Coroner's Inquest proceeding violates any reasonable interpretation of constitutional "due process." Thank you for ensuring it is changed immediately.

Regards,
_______________

I live in Texas and have visited Las Vegas on many occasions. After reviewing the recent events and the inquest process, I no longer feel safe in Las Vegas and do not plan to visit again. I routinely share my opinion with personal and internet acquaintances.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/judge-denies-c ... 99494.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Judge denies Costco request to ban protesters

By DOUG MCMURDO
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Comments posted on the social network Website Facebook and its page in memory of Erik Scott have prompted Costco Wholesale Corp. to go to court in an unsuccessful bid to keep protesters away from one of its Las Vegas stores.

baldeagle wrote:The jury ruled justified.

Terlingueno wrote: I don't recall seeing any posts from a Texas Peace Officer
how about putting yourselves in the Metro officers shoes

Excaliber wrote:

philip964 wrote:Erik's father came clean about the drugs Erik was taking before the Inquest.

http://erikbscottmemorialblog.blogspot.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Erik had a back injury from the Army.

Did you know he was texting in the store. Seems they left that out since it would not fit with the "dazed" story they are presenting.

The wording of this article indicates that Erik's father has a high degree of confidence that unaltered video will surface at some point.

There's little else to suggest this is the case, and I don't think he's the kind of man to bluff. I think he's got an ace up his sleeve.

Stay tuned for what happens after the inquest.

seniorshooteress wrote:The way this is going LVPD will come out of it unscathed. I hope Las Vegas loses a whole lot of their tourism business and that people think of another place to go to gamble or take a vacation. If people stop going to Vegas maybe hitting them in the pocket book will wake them up to the fact that people don't like what goes down in that town with their police force. New motto Just "What stays in Vegas means; stay away from Vegas."

jimlongley wrote:Has anyone noticed that the blog is gone?

WildBill wrote:Friends of Erik Scott have put up messages on six electronic billboards in the Las Vegas area. They will be running messages to keep the story on people's minds and to try to find more witnesses to the shooting. http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/24377093/detail.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WildBill wrote:

Cobra Medic wrote:I hope the victim's dad has enough spook juice to get justice, one way or another.

I am not sure exactly was "spook juice" is, but I am confident that he has plently.

WildBill wrote:A very good interview with Erik Scott's father: http://www.8newsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12809131" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Erik Scott was a West Point graduate who also had a degree from Duke. He was a successful businessman and his father is a nationally known aviation journalist with extensive contacts in military and intelligence circles.