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Court of Appeals hearing cases at Faith Lutheran

Posted at 1:38 PM, Jan 05, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-05 16:38:15-05

The Nevada Court of Appeals will convene at Faith Lutheran Middle School and High School in Las Vegas from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., Wednesday.

In 2015, the Court of Appeals was assigned 816 cases and decided 712 cases.

These will be the first court proceedings to be held in the new courtroom at the school. Students have been studying the appellate court process in anticipation of the visit as part of the Justice and Advocacy Program.
 
Chief Judge Michael Gibbons, Judges Jerome Tao and Abbi Silver will answer questions from the audience after the arguments are concluded.  The court will conduct oral arguments at many different schools and does not endorse any faith or religion.
 
While at Faith Lutheran, the Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in two criminal cases from Clark County.

The first is Gonzales (Raul) v. State. Gonzales was allegedly involved in a murder after pleading guilty to conspiracy and robbery. Gonzales attempted to withdraw his guilty plea after his new arrest which the district court denied. The court determined he was a habitual criminal and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Gonzales has asked the court of appeals to reverse that judgment by ruling that the district court abused its discretion in failing to let him withdraw his guilty plea.
 
The second is State v. District Court (Bowden). Bowden is charged with murder and the case is set for trial in March 2016 in Las Vegas.  Bowden and another person were sitting in an Arizona Highway Patrol vehicle and their conversation was recorded.  The Nevada district court ruled an Arizona statute against these type of recordings was applicable and granted Bowden’s motion to exclude the evidence.

The state asks the court of appeals to direct the district court to apply Arizona authority which requires consideration of the parties’ reasonable expectation of privacy when deciding whether the Arizona law is applicable.