Woman loses DNA proposal to prove brother’s innocence

CARSON CITY - Longtime prison inmate advocate Tonya Brown lost again when she tried to induce the state Commission on the Administration of Justice to back litigation that might prove the innocence of her late brother, Nolan Klein.

Commission members took no action Wednesday on her proposal to allow inmates or defendants to pay for their own DNA testing if a judge rejects the need for such testing.

Brown had the support of commission member Justice James Hardesty, but Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, police and district attorney's office officials opposed the plan. Masto said such a bill would send the "wrong message" that some inmates could get the testing, but those who cannot afford it would not.

For years Brown, a Carson City resident, has tried to prove her brother did not commit the rape for which he was convicted in 1988. She said prosecutors withheld evidence that would have shown his innocence and that the DNA of a cigarette picked up at the crime scene would show another man committed the crime. She even named the man who she said committed the rape.

Klein died in prison in 2009. Brown has filed a wrongful death lawsuit that charges he did not receive appropriate medical care.

Brown is well-known to Masto because she and other people often protest in front of the attorney general's office, sometimes displaying a huge banner that accuses state government leaders of corruption. She and others often turn up at meetings that Masto and Gov. Brian Sandoval attend to register their complaints during public comment periods about the treatment of prison inmates.

During Wednesday's hearing, police and district attorney's office members on the commission complained that additional DNA testing would be a burden on their departments and might not clear someone of a crime. Eyewitnesses often are used to convict people, and the criminal might not leave DNA, one member added.

In talking with the commission, Brown wore a blue jeans jacket that she said is the only remaining thing she has from her brother.

She vowed to find a legislator who will introduce the bill she wants during the 2013 session.

Although mostly a prison advocate, Brown has been behind efforts to establish memorials at parks throughout the state to honor children who have been victims of domestic violence. Even critics of her prison inmate efforts have spoken in admiration of her tenacity to clear her brother.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.