Fact-finding review in officer-involved shooting set for Wednesday

A fact-finding review of the October 2012 death of Ronald Morrison will be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday, aired live on Clark County Television and streamed over the county Internet site at www.ClarkCountyNV.gov.

Police confronted Morrison about 3 p.m. on Oct. 29 outside a retail store on the 2400 block of E. Desert Inn Road, according to reports.

Morrison, a suspect in a shooting of a homeless man, was shot by officers after he refused to follow their commands and pulled a gun from his waistband.

Osvaldo Fumo will preside over the hearing. David Fischer will serve as ombudsman, representing the public and the deceased’s family in the fact-finding review.

Both Fumo and Fischer are longtime local criminal defense attorneys and were selected by the county manager from lists approved by the County Commission.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Giancarlo Pesci and Robert Daskas will represent the District Attorney’s Office.

This will be the fourth Police Fatality Public Fact-finding Review, which was adopted by the County Commission in January and replaced the process known as the “coroner’s inquest.

The review is scheduled if the District Attorney’s Office preliminarily determines that no officer should be prosecuted in a police-involved death.

The procedure for questioning witnesses is informal and intended to provide the public with relevant information about the use of force. People observing the review may submit written questions to the presiding officer on forms available at the review.

The presiding officer may ask the proposed questions, revise them or not ask them if he deems they are “redundant, irrelevant or an abuse of the review process,” according to County ordinance.

At the end of the review, no formal determination about the manner or cause of death is rendered.

Contact Steven Slivka at SSlivka@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0264.