Coroner’s rules vary on suicide inquests

It was a quiet day in Henderson when Andres Avitia decided to shoot it out with police before murdering his wife and killing himself.

Police were called in response to a domestic violence situation on May 30 at a home near College Way and Boulder Highway. When they arrived, Avitia fired through a door, striking an officer. Police returned fire. They would later learn one of those bullets struck Avitia in the leg.

Inside, Avitia shot and killed his estranged 21-year-old wife, Naira Villarreal-Gonzalez, before turning the gun on himself. Police bullets did not strike Villarreal-Gonzalez.

The Clark County coroner's office decided against holding an inquest into the death, citing policy that it does not hold inquests into suicides.

But it did hold an inquest recently under similar circumstances involving the Metropolitan Police Department.

The inquest was held to look at the death of a police recruit, even though his death also was ruled a suicide.

On Feb. 9, a Las Vegas police officer shot police recruit Ivan Alonzo, who had fired at police.

The Clark County coroner's office later ruled that Alonzo had shot and killed himself, though an officer's bullet was believed to have struck him in the leg.

So why hold an inquest into one and not the other?

Coroner Michael Murphy said, "If there was any question if this person (Avitia) died at the hands of law enforcement, we would have conducted an inquest."

Murphy wasn't going to hold an inquest into Alonzo's death until the Metropolitan Police Department convinced him to do otherwise.

Although the inquest process has been routinely criticized by some as being one-sided in favor of police, it does create a public record about the most serious and dangerous part of police work.

Chris Laurent, a Clark County chief deputy district attorney who has conducted coroner's inquests for more than a year, said he was surprised an inquest was held into Alonzo's death.

Laurent said if the coroner's office has already ruled a death a suicide, then it doesn't fall into the realm of an inquest, which lets a jury decide if the actions by police are justified, excused, or criminal. The reason is simple: Police didn't kill anyone.

"I don't think it hurts to do an inquest," he said. "It lets the public see that we have a suicide. It also clearly showed that Metro wasn't hiding anything."

Laurent said the coroner's investigation into the Avitia incident showed clearly that it was a suicide.

"The ballistics came back, and putting on an inquest isn't going to change those facts. We have the officers' weapons. We have the ballistics. I don't know what we gain other than we show everyone we are doing it right," Laurent said.

Showing the public that police conducted themselves appropriately in the Alonzo incident was important to the head of the Metropolitan Police Department.

Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie said he asked that the process go forward to ease any public concern about what happened Feb. 9.

Initial reports about the shooting suggested Metropolitan Police Department officers had killed Alonzo, but those turned out to be inaccurate after the autopsy and ballistics tests. Police had fired at Alonzo, and there was one wound where ballistic tests could not determine which gun caused it.

The tests proved the fatal round came from Alonzo's gun.

"Rather than at a later point someone interjecting that this wasn't a self-inflicted wound, it was better for all parties involved that we have an inquest," Gillespie said. "I thought it was a good way for us to put out to the public as to what happened that night."

Murphy said he was swayed by the Police Department's argument.

Gillespie said he was faced with some questions within the department as to why he wanted to move forward with the process.

"I don't believe there was any resistance" to the idea, he said. "Police officers understand the scrutiny they will come under when they make the decision to use deadly force. And the officers made the appropriate decision."

The cost for an inquest that lasts a day, which the Alonzo case did, is about $2,600, not counting staff costs.

Meanwhile, the Henderson Police Department seems content to abide by Murphy's decision not to hold an inquest into Avitia's death.

"We are confident in the findings of the Clark County coroner and the medical examiner that the suspect murdered his innocent wife and then killed himself," said Keith Paul, spokesman for Henderson police.

Asked if holding an inquest might help alleviate any public concerns about the incident, Paul said, "Thus far, no one has come to us questioning the actions of these brave officers."

But would the Henderson Police Department have anything to lose by going through the inquest process?

Paul said the question was hypothetical and simply reiterated that Avitia's death was ruled a suicide. He said Henderson police will conduct its own use of force hearing into the incident that will not be open to the public.