Use of murder suspect’s e-mail OK’d

RENO -- A judge cleared the way Friday for prosecutors in Darren Mack's murder trial to use incriminating e-mail Mack sent to Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick while on the run in Mexico after police say he killed his wife and shot a judge.

District Judge Douglas Herndon, who previously suppressed telephone conversations Gammick had with Mack because they were obtained in an unethical manner, said the June 17, 2006, e-mail could be introduced as evidence because it was unsolicited by the district attorney.

"One cannot avoid receiving correspondence that one did not solicit or even know he would be receiving," the judge wrote.

Herndon said he agreed with special prosecutors who argued Thursday that Gammick would have been remiss in his duties if he had not read the communication, knowing that the suspected killer was on the loose and posed a potential danger.

"The court agrees with the state's contention that Mr. Gammick was certainly obligated in his professional capacity to view the e-mail and see what the contents were," Herndon said.

Mack, a former wealthy Reno pawn shop owner, is accused of the June 12, 2006, stabbing death of his wife, Charla, at his town house. Authorities allege he then drove to downtown Reno where he shot and wounded Family Court Judge Chuck Weller, who was handling the couple's divorce. The judge survived.

Mack is charged with murder and attempted murder and has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

Jury selection for the trial is scheduled to begin Monday.

In a previous ruling, Herndon threw out taped telephone conversations in which Mack allegedly confessed to Gammick on grounds they were recorded illegally. The judge also said those conversations were inadmissible because Gammick knew Mack was represented by lawyers and had a professional duty not to talk to him.