Appeals court rules evidence improperly excluded in murder case

A Clark County judge erred when she excluded a key piece of evidence in a 2013 murder case, the Nevada Court of Appeals ruled Monday.

The decision means jurors will be allowed to hear a conversation between the two suspects that was recorded as they sat in the back of an Arizona Highway Patrol vehicle.

"As a general rule, a person does not have an objectively reasonable expectation of privacy while in a patrol vehicle," according to the 10-page order.

A trial for the two defendants in the case, Majunique Brown and Marshan Bowden, is scheduled to begin March 14 before District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez.

The decision to exclude the recording was made in October by District Judge Michelle Leavitt, who based her ruling on an Arizona law that prohibits the intentional interception of oral communication without the consent of at least one of the people involved.

According to Monday's order, "The district court manifestly abused its discretion by failing to determine whether Bowden and Brown had a reasonable expectation of privacy at the time of their conversation when deciding their conversation was illegally intercepted."

The Court of Appeals heard arguments on the matter Wednesday in a new courtroom at Faith Lutheran Middle School and High School, and Chief Judge Michael Gibbons told spectators the court would decide the case quickly.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Stanton argued that the outcome of the murder case could depend on whether the recording is admitted at trial.

Bowden and Brown face murder, kidnapping and robbery charges in the January 2013 stabbing death of Jason Byes. Las Vegas police have said the pair used Byes' car to transport his body to Kingman, Ariz., before driving to New Orleans, where they were arrested.

Shortly after 7 a.m. on Jan. 7, 2013, the Mohave County Sheriff's Office was alerted to a partially burned body on the side of a road. About 90 minutes later, an Arizona trooper stopped Byes' car as it sped east on Interstate 40.

The trooper said the man and the woman in the car were nervous. The woman was bleeding from a cut on her hand, and a report said the trooper believed blood found in the car came from her wound. After searching the vehicle, the trooper released them both and cited Bowden for speeding.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710. Find her on Twitter: @CarriGeer