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NSC: Former Metro cop convicted of first-degree murder has bid for new trial denied

Posted on | July 20, 2010 | No Comments

By DOUG McMURDO, Las Vegas Legal News – Most people celebrate their birthdays with friends and family, reading cards, opening presents and eating cake.

Ronald Mortensen celebrated his birthday drunk and armed, hunting suspected gang bangers on the streets of Las Vegas, killing 21-year-old Daniel Mendoza when he fired into a group of people hanging out in one of the city’s uncountable “gang areas.”

That Mortensen was an off-duty policeman with Las Vegas Metro made this brutal crime all the more shocking. It is probably more coincidence than irony the Supreme Court should affirm his conviction 14 years after the fact at a time when police shootings in Southern Nevada are far too common an occurrence. There is no evidence to suggest any of the recent officer-involved shootings are even remotely similar to the facts behind Mortensen’s crime — and for this we can all breathe a little easier.

Mortensen and his partner Christopher Brady went on trial in 1997 in one of those cases that are sensational without any help from the media. Mortensen blamed Brady. Brady blamed Mortensen. The jury believed Brady and Mortensen went away for life.

He’s been trying to win back his freedom ever since, but a week ago the Nevada Supreme Court might have closed the door.

Read the opinion.

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