This month the Nevada Board of Pardons Commissioners granted a full pardon to a man who spent 21 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.
Fred Steese was arrested and subsequently convicted for the murder of Gerard Soules in 1992. Once a famous trapeze artist, Soules then had a poodle trainer act for Circus Circus at the time of his murder. Steese and Soules had, for a short time, been lovers.
Evidence showed that at the time of Soules' death, Steese was nowhere near Las Vegas. Nonetheless, prosecutors from the district attorney's office had a confession and a narrative about a look-alike brother who was actually the one seen out of town when Soules was murdered.
What ensued after Steese's conviction was a bizarre and unusual twist of events in court, which culminated in Steese accepting a rare plea deal that allowed him to get out of prison, while simultaneously allowing the district attorney's office to keep a win on record.
Although Steese was out of prison, he was still a convicted murderer. Unable to land employment after more than two decades in prison, many of his front teeth missing from poor dental care, Steese was homeless.
“He was finding it hard to move forward with what showed on paper as a 2013 conviction to second-degree murder," attorney Lisa Rasmussen told KNPR's State of Nevada, "So, employers weren’t understanding why he was out of custody with this 2013 murder conviction on his record.”
Rasmussen worked on Steese's case. He contacted her for help after the Alford Plea that let him out of prison but didn't get the murder conviction off his record.
A lengthy Propublica investigation highlighted gross misconduct on the part of the prosecutors who not only hid evidence during the trial but then refused to recognize his innocence time and time again.
It brought to light a system that encourages prosecutors to go to great, and sometimes questionable lengths to get that guilty verdict.
“There is apparently an inappropriate level of pressure for cases to be won that leads to this kind of tragedy, and frankly, travesty,” Rasmussen said.
Megan Rose worked on that investigation by Propublica. She said that the Alford Plea protected the District Attorney's office and the state from civil litigation and possibly paying out a huge settlement for wrongful incarceration.
“If you get this plea deal, you’ve protected the city, the state from any repercussions in that regard,” she said.
Plus, they don't have to admit they got the wrong person and that a killer is still on the loose.
Despite the fact the Propublica investigation found misconduct, Rose said the prosecutors in this case and similar cases around the country rarely get punished for it.
“It is really rare for prosecutors to even get their hand slapped for Brady violations, that’s the withholding of evidence of innocence,” she said.
Rasmussen believes that is why it happens so often around the country.
“I think one of the reasons this continues to happen is because there has basically been no consequence and without consequence, it will continue to happen," she said, "Innocent people will continue to be convicted and pursued in an inappropriate manner.”
During a hearing in front of the Pardons board, with the investigation in hand, and even a testimony from the victim's sister, Steese was given a full pardon with a majority vote that included Gov. Brian Sandoval and all of the Nevada Supreme Court justices. The only "no" vote came from Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Adam Laxalt, who first asked the Governor if he could abstain from voting.
Rasmussen was at that hearing. She said it was "very powerful feeling for redemption" for Steese.
He is now a long-haul trucker and is trying to get his life back together.
Megan Rose, investigative reporter, ProPublica; Lisa Rasmussen, attorney