By Noble Brigham
Las Vegas Review-Journal
LAS VEGAS — After a federal judge’s decision to vacate the 1997 murder conviction of a former Las Vegas police officer, the man at the center of the case is in limbo.
Ronald Mortensen, now 59, has spent decades behind bars, litigating his case in the courts and protesting that he was innocent, and that Christopher Brady, another Metropolitan Police Department officer who accompanied him at the time of the 1996 off-duty, drive-by shooting, was the person who killed 21-year-old Daniel Mendoza.
On Monday, Senior U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson overturned the conviction of Mortensen, who is one of the few Las Vegas-area officers to have been prosecuted for a death in recent history. Dawson found there were problems with jury instructions and what he saw as the prosecution’s suppression of evidence that Brady may have told another officer he wanted to conduct a drive-by shooting.
Though Mortensen’s conviction has been vacated, he is still awaiting his fate.
He remains in prison and may face a second trial or a lengthy appellate process if the Nevada attorney general’s office, which represented the state in Mortensen’s federal case, decides to contest Dawson’s ruling.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said this week that the attorney general’s office would conduct its own review to decide whether to appeal. If they don’t appeal the ruling, Wolfson’s understanding is that the district attorney’s office will have a period of time in which to make a decision whether to retry Mortensen.
It’s “too premature” to say whether Mortensen would be retried, the district attorney said.
“There are evidentiary concerns,” Wolfson said. “This is a 30-year-old case. Can we proceed? Do we have the witnesses we need to proceed? Should we proceed?”
John Sadler , a spokesperson for the attorney general, declined an interview request, but said the office is “reviewing the decision and determining potential next steps.”
Local legal experts say a retrial is unlikely after so many years. But Dawson’s decision follows a $34 million jury award in December for a woman whose conviction was also overturned after she spent years behind bars. At least one lawyer thinks her case will inspire prosecutors to be cautious as they decide what to do with Mortensen’s case.
“Anything they do, I would expect they’re going to be very careful that they’re not going to have some big monetary penalty down the line coming to them,” said attorney David Schieck, who previously represented Mortensen post-conviction.
Who really did it?
Mortensen and Brady celebrated Mortensen’s birthday in December 1996. They drank heavily, then drove to McKellar Circle, located in a Hispanic neighborhood near Paradise and Flamingo roads.
There, Brady alleged, Mortensen fired a gun from the truck Brady drove and in which Mortensen was a passenger. Mortensen said Brady was the shooter.
Unlike Mortensen, Brady, whose father was a longtime Metro officer, was not prosecuted by the district attorney’s office and was treated as a witness.
In a federal case, Brady admitted to violating the civil rights of Hispanic people and was sentenced to nine years in prison in 1999.
Former Chief Deputy District Attorney William Koot, who retired from the district attorney’s office in 2001, said he believes a previous prosecutor on the case, who has since died, felt close to Metro and may have decided not to prosecute Brady because of his father’s position in the department.
Attorney Frank Cremen, who defended Mortensen at trial, said Brady received “absolutely deferential treatment.”
“He contacted his father and then his father ran interference for him with Metro,” he said.
Brady could not be reached for comment. A man reached at a number for his father, Mike Brady, declined to comment.
Problems with a retrial
Margaret Rudin’s case may offer hints of what will happen to Mortensen.
Like Mortensen, her murder trial received extensive media coverage. Both defendants were also prosecuted by Gary Guymon, who has been accused of sex trafficking and plotting to have a client killed.
Guymon declined comment this week.
In 2020, Rudin was paroled. She had spent almost 20 years in prison after she was convicted of killing her husband. Following her release, a federal judge vacated her conviction, finding she had received ineffective representation from a previous attorney.
The attorney general’s office decided not to appeal the federal judge’s decision and the district attorney’s office declined to retry her. Rudin has a pending lawsuit against the state, alleging she was wrongfully convicted.
For Mortensen to sue for compensation, said attorney Adam Breeden , who represents Rudin, he would have to prove that he more likely than not did not commit the crime.
In another recent case, a jury ordered Kirstin “Blaise” Lobato to receive $34 million after finding detectives fabricated evidence against her in a 2001 killing. Lobato was freed after her conviction was vacated for the second time and the district attorney’s office decided not to pursue a third trial.
Schieck said that case will be in prosecutors’ minds.
“They all got burned on Lobato,” he said, “and so I think they’re going to be very careful, whatever they do.”
He’d like to see Mortensen make a plea, get credit for time served and go home, he said, but he’s not sure if his former client would accept such an offer.
Defense attorney Robert Langford also expects prosecutors will offer a deal to Mortensen in which he pleads guilty to a charge and leaves prison immediately. A plea would prevent Langford from suing over his conviction, Langford said.
“Who wants to try a case that’s 30 years old?” he asked.
He added: “The facts were really egregious, but it’s been a long time.”
Tom Pitaro, another veteran defense lawyer, said he imagines the state will appeal Dawson’s decision, but doubts Mortensen will be retried.
Koot said he would be “extremely surprised” if prosecutors tried Mortensen again. The previous jury visited the scene and saw the truck used in the shooting, he said. The vehicle was key to analyzing the angle of the shots and deciding who the shooter was, according to the former prosecutor, who thinks the truck no longer exists.
Metro said police do not hold vehicles, but maintain case photos.
Cremen said prosecutors could reuse prior testimony in a second trial.
“They may say what’s the use?” he said. “Why bother with this? But I think if they wanted to play hardball, they could do that.”
Looking forward
At Mortensen’s 1997 sentencing, Koot argued that the former officer should receive the most severe punishment possible to send a message.
Jurors listened and sentenced Mortensen to life without parole.
But this week, the long-retired prosecutor said the sentence was “far fetched” for Mortensen, who had served in the military, was married and had a clean record.
“Truthfully, I felt bad all these years because I didn’t think life without (parole) was appropriate, quite frankly,” Koot said.
Mortensen was recently transferred from High Desert State Prison to Ely State Prison.
Attorney Tony Farmani, who was appointed to represent Mortensen in 2019, said he doesn’t know why his client has been moved.
“It’s kind of unexpected,” he said.
Teri Vance, a Nevada Department of Corrections spokesperson, said in a statement that “Offender Mortensen” was incarcerated at High Desert for his Las Vegas case, but did not explain why he was transferred.
Mortensen could not be reached for comment. His ex-wife, Zoë, who has remained close to him, said she’s frustrated about the delay and thinks what her former husband has experienced is heartbreaking.
“Ron by far is the nicest person I’ve ever known in my life,” she said.
Schieck also has high praise for his former client.
“He was likable and intelligent and knowledgeable, and except for this one crazy incident, in my opinion, was a good police officer,” he said.
Farmani has spoken briefly with Mortensen and said he knows about Dawson’s decision.
“He’s overjoyed,” his attorney said. “These things don’t happen very often.”
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Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.
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