Man loses death sentence appeal in 1992 Las Vegas murders

CARSON CITY — A Las Vegas man sentenced to death for the murders of two women nearly 25 years ago saw his attempt to raise new legal challenges to his conviction and sentence rejected by the Nevada Supreme Court.

Michael Rippo was on parole for the 1982 beating and rape of a woman in her Las Vegas apartment when he committed the 1992 murders of Denise Lizzi, 25, and Lauri Jacobson, 27. A jury sentenced him to death in 1996.

The Supreme Court, in a published opinion issued Thursday, upheld the denial by Clark County District Judge David Wall of a post-conviction petition filed by the federal public defender on behalf of Rippo that raised multiple claims seeking to overturn his conviction and sentence.

Rippo's first direct appeal was rejected by the Nevada Supreme Court in 1997, and his first post-conviction appeal was denied in 2006.

Rippo, 50, then filed a second post-conviction petition, which was denied by Wall because the inmate could not make a showing why it should not be barred due to procedural limitations.

In the petition, Rippo said he had ineffective assistance from his counsel in his first post-conviction petition, which if found valid by the court could result in consideration of a second petition.

In its lengthy opinion, the Supreme Court found that Rippo properly brought his ineffective assistance claims in his second petition, but the court rejected them because they lacked merit. Rippo's other claims were also rejected.

Justice Michael Cherry dissented from the majority on the question of whether Rippo's ineffective assistance claims should be given an evidentiary hearing in the district court. Those claims included the failure to raise a claim of prosecutorial misconduct and the failure of the trial counsel to present additional mitigating evidence to the jury about the abuse Rippo received as a child from his stepfather. Cherry said a hearing should be held on the claims.

Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3820. Find him on Twitter: @seanw801