STAR-CHAMBER (SECRET) "JUSTICE" IN NEVADA

When Flo Crew Jones got the news, her heart soared. There was hope -- hope that one of her two incarcerated sons might finally get out of prison after more than 20 years. When Marisa Zappa got the news, her heart sank. For her, there was a chance that her brother's killer might again walk the streets. But while the two women were on opposing sides of the issue, both were confused and angry when the Pardons Board changed its mind about hearing Norman Crew's plea for early release--and wouldn't tell them why. Their stories illustrate the secrecy with which the board operates, a secrecy that some say amounts to a lack of accountability for life-and-death decisions.

The news the two women got was a notification that Norman Crew would have a hearing before the state Board of Pardons at its meeting Wednesday. Crew and his brother, Russell Crew, killed two men in an alleged drug deal gone bad and buried them in a shallow grave near Lake Mead more than 20 years ago. In 1982, the brothers were sentenced to four consecutive life sentences with the possibility of parole after 40 years. The only recourse for inmates who are not eligible for parole is the state's Board of Pardons, which can shorten prison terms. But few inmates manage to get a hearing with the board, a nine-member panel composed of the governor, the attorney general and the seven justices of the state Supreme Court.

At the upcoming meeting, just nine inmates will have their cases heard out of 530 who applied, according to the board's executive secretary, David Smith. Last month, Smith said there were 10 inmates on the agenda. One of them was Norman Crew, according to the letter Zappa received, which was dated Nov. 4. But then something mysterious happened. The number went down to nine, and Norman Crew was told he was not getting a hearing after all.

For Jones, the mother of Norman and Russell Crew, the news was difficult. "It was almost as hard as when they were first convicted," she said. "To receive a call with the good news that my son was on the agenda, and then to hear again that they'd changed their mind -- it was hard because I had some hope," she said. For Zappa, the sister of Teddy Zappa Jr., one of the Crews' victims, the news was a relief. "I have been dealing with this for 25 years," she said. "The emotional strain, over and over -- it just doesn't end."

After Zappa was notified that Norman Crew was getting a hearing, she wrote a letter to the board's members. In it, she noted that the brothers had already had two Pardons Board hearings and that after the last one, in November 2002, Gov. Kenny Guinn said they would not get another chance. Guinn noted at the time that the pair had already appeared twice, while hundreds of other inmates were waiting for a turn. "The severity of this crime, and the victims that lost their lives, and the victims that remain must be seriously considered," Zappa wrote in her Nov. 18 letter. "We all feel that we have been deceived in believing that there would not be any more appearances before the board" for the Crews. It was after Zappa's letter that Norman Crew's name was taken off the agenda, but Smith, the board staffer, would not say whether the letter led to the removal. "The board doesn't have a policy of confirming or denying communications with victims," he said.

Both women want to know who put Crew on the agenda and who later took him off. But Smith said that, too, is confidential. "If a member (of the board) places somebody on the agenda, the name of the member is not disclosed," Smith said.

There are two ways to get on the Pardons Board's twice-annual agenda. One is to fill out an application, in which the inmate makes his case for mercy. The applications are reviewed by Smith and Director of Corrections Glen Whorter. The two choose those they think are worthy, but their reasons for picking one inmate and not another are not disclosed. The other way to get on the agenda is to be put there directly by one of the board members. They, too, do not explain their reasons for picking inmates who deserve a hearing.

The personal influence of the board members appears to be more effective than the application process. Of the nine inmates on the upcoming agenda, five were personally put there by board members, while only four of the 530 applications were deemed worthy by Smith and Whorter.

Richard Siegel, a UNR political science professor and president of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, says the small number of pardons hearings relative to Nevada's large prison population is a symptom of Nevada's harsh justice system. "Nevada has one of the most repressive criminal justice systems in the country," he said. "We rank in the top two for the rate of death penalties and the top five for rate of incarceration."

Part of the reason is the low rate of pardons, which mirrors a worldwide trend, Siegel said. While the power to pardon was once a frequently used check on the idiosyncrasies of the justice system, most jurisdictions now reserve its use for cases where a miscarriage of justice can be proven.

The board operates almost completely out of the public eye and largely without documentation. Board members do not have to explain what factors led them to vote for or against a particular case. Because the board members' personal influence is so powerful, Zappa wonders whether the Crews have a connection to a Supreme Court justice or other top official. After all, they were set to go before the board three times, while most inmates never get even one hearing. Jones says she has met some members at social functions, including Supreme Court Justice Bill Maupin, and has brought up her sons, but has no special influence and has not received any commitments. She says she is as mystified as Zappa about how her son was put on, and then taken off, the agenda. "I just don't understand why they would give me hope and then take it away," Jones said. "They won't tell me anything. They won't even tell me which board member it was."

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