Ruling saves thousands of convictions, state says

     Associated Press
      CARSON CITY -- The Nevada attorney general's office has praised a ruling by a federal appeals court and said it has prevented challenges to thousands of criminal convictions in the state.
      The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling in the case of Ramirez vs. Hatcher upholds the constitutionality of the jury instruction Nevada courts gave on the subject of reasonable doubt from 1976 to 1991.
      David Sarnowski, the Nevada attorney general's chief criminal deputy, said an adverse ruling could have led to challenges of thousands of cases that were decided in that time period.
      A challenge to Nevada's instruction was filed after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a similar instruction given in Louisiana courts.
      Sarnowski said a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Nevada's instruction was different enough to pass muster.
      Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said the ruling prevents Ramirez, a convicted rapist, from getting a new trial more than a decade after his conviction.