CARSON CITY (AP) — The Nevada Supreme Court has rejected an appeal for a death penalty conviction for a 2006 fatal shooting of a former professional basketball player in Las Vegas.
Five justices upheld the death penalty for Timothy Burnside in an opinion issued Thursday.
Justices found that prosecutors should have listed a cell phone tower technician as an expert witness during the trial, and that jury member received confusing instructions.
But the court found that despite some errors during the trial, none were serious enough to require reversing or reopening Burnside's death sentence conviction for shooting and robbing Kenneth Hardwick in December 2006.
Justices Michael Cherry and Nancy Saitta dissented, saying that confusing jury instructions over mitigating evidence during the sentencing warranted a new penalty trial.