Fatal shooting by Henderson police ruled justified in Nolton inquest
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Richard Nolton Sr. had a lethal amount of methamphetamine in his system when Henderson police responded to his home on July 3, but it was a single bullet from a SWAT officer's rifle that killed him that morning.
Six of the seven jurors who participated in a coroner's inquest Friday declared that the officer, Brian Pollard, acted justifiably when he fired the shot into Nolton's neck.
Juror Paul Cunningham, an unemployed Henderson resident, said evidence presented during the inquest made it clear to him "that there was not really any other way to end this" after he came out of a house waving a handgun and refused to put it down.
Five women and two men sat on the jury. Cunningham said one woman elected not to sign the verdict form because she believed police "should have different ways of dealing with mentally ill individuals."
Evidence presented during the inquest indicated that Nolton, 42, had suffered from depression and anxiety for years. His wife told police he had tried to commit suicide about three months before his death, and had held a pair of scissors to her throat during the domestic dispute that brought officers to their home on the day of the shooting.
