County commissioners studying coroner inquest proposals

Following years of lawsuits and outcries from the public for more transparency after police shootings, county commissioners could finally revive the coroner's inquest process.

On Monday the board will have the chance to vote on two similar but competing proposals to do just that.

One, brought forth by Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, would resume the fact-finding process that was changed in 2011 but has never been tried.

Some of the changes are significant:

■ A panel of citizens would no longer rule deaths at the hands of police as justified, excusable or criminal. The panel would instead answer a series of pre­determined questions, such as whether the deceased was a threat to the officer.

■ An ombudsman representing the family of the deceased would be allowed to cross-examine witnesses.

■ The list of witnesses would be long, and include civilians who saw the incident and officers who were involved in the death.

The second proposal, introduced by Commissioners Larry Brown and Steve Sisolak, wouldn't even be called an inquest - it would be dubbed a "police fatality public fact-finding review."

Among its key distinctions:

■ There would be no panel of citizens tasked with hearing the testimony and answering questions.

■ An ombudsman would be allowed to cross-examine witnesses.

■ Although the proposal allows the prosecutor to call anyone as a witness, the witnesses will likely be limited to just a couple of people, such as the detective who investigated the death and the medical examiner who performed the autopsy.

Both hearings would be televised on the county channel and open to the public.

Inquests have been stalled since 2010, after high-profile shootings thrust the issue into the laps of county commissioners, who created the process several decades ago. Commissioners changed the process but police filed lawsuits claiming it violated their due process rights. The Nevada Supreme Court disagreed.

Sisolak just wants something that will get buy-in from police officers - or won't require their participation at all - to get the process back on track. There are more than 20 inquests outstanding.

"If they try it for six months or a year and it works, great, and if it doesn't, bring it back and we'll change it," Sisolak said.

"I'd like to see one of them pass," he added.

But Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, said he'd rather have no process than have what Sisolak and Brown are proposing.

"I think that what's being proposed is essentially a glorified press conference," he said.

Any sort of inquest would add an unusual amount of disclosure to police shootings. Since the process stalled, Las Vegas police have started regularly releasing their reports into in-custody deaths, and prosecutors are now making formal decisions about whether those actions were legal and releasing their decisions in writing.

Few jurisdictions have inquests. While a handful of states have counties that still hold inquests, Seattle is the only major metropolitan area that still has them.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-405-9781.