Court hears appeal from man pardoned

CARSON CITY -- A lawyer for a pardoned Las Vegas sex offender said Monday his client cannot free his reputation of its scarlet letter unless the Supreme Court seals his criminal record.

Lawyer John Parris questioned whether the "governor's pardon" granted Sang Man Shin in 2002 has any meaning because his conviction for attempted lewdness with a minor remains open for public inspection.

"Would any of you be on this dais if you were arrested or had this (conviction) on your record?" Parris asked the seven Supreme Court justices during a half hour appeal hearing.

Pardons are supposed to mean that someone who receives them "is deemed to be innocent," Parris added.

But Nevada has a state law that prevents the sealing of criminal records of sex offenders.

This law represents the intrusion of the Legislature into the governor's right to grant pardons, according to Parris.

Some Supreme Court justices seemed to agree with his thinking.

When Deputy Attorney General Robert Kilroy argued that the pardon does not wipe out Shin's conviction, Chief Justice Bill Maupin cut him off.

Maupin said he remembers a case where the state Pardons Board granted a pardon to a man "because we were absolutely convinced he was innocent."

Under Nevada law, governors do not solely grant pardons. Pardons are made by a board consisting of the governor -- which was Guinn at the time of the Shin case -- the attorney general and all Supreme Court justices.

The justice added a person who is pardoned is "no longer a convicted person, period."

Even if criminal records are sealed, Justice Mark Gibbons noted that state agencies such as the Gaming Control Board still are entitled to review them as part of investigations.

Kilroy argued that Shin admitted guilt because he pleaded guilty to the charge of attempted lewdness with a minor in 1988.

He received a suspended two-year sentence and was placed on probation. He then lived a model life and received a pardon in 2002.

At the time of the conviction, Shin, a Korean native, had lived in Las Vegas for only a year and experienced language difficulties.

Last year a district court judge sealed his criminal records. The Clark County district attorney's office did not object to the sealing.

But a month later, the attorney general's office challenged that order on the grounds it violated state law prohibiting the sealing of records of sex offenders. Shin's criminal record was reopened and he then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Kilroy argued that Nevada is a "forgive, not a forget state" and Shin's conviction cannot be sealed because of the state law.

"What is the source of your authority?" Justice Jim Hardesty asked about Kilroy's statement.

The lawyer could not answer several technical questions posed by Hardesty.

The court is not expected to make a decision for several months.