John Butler, sentenced to death for the shotgun murder...

John Butler, sentenced to death for the shotgun murder of 2 rival gang members in Clark County, is going to get a new penalty hearing. The Nevada Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Butler on two counts of 1st-degree murder in the slaying of Linn Newborn and Daniel Shersty in July 1998. Butler, according to court records, was an "influential member of a white supremacist gang called the Independent Nazi Skinheads." The victims were members of the nonracist gang known as Skinheads against Racial Prejudice. The court, in a majority decision, said there were three errors committed during the penalty hearing and the death penalty is overturned. The Supreme Court agreed with attorneys for Butler that former District Judge Michael Douglas, now on the Supreme Court, should have permitted both of Butler's lawyers to argue at the penalty hearing. Douglas, who did not participate in the decision, had permitted only one defense lawyer to argue at the penalty hearing. The court said Douglas also gave an erroneous instruction to the jury because it failed to describe what evidence could be considered in reaching the sentencing decision. The instruction permitted jurors to consider evidence that Butler had been arrested 32 times in the past. The majority opinion said the prosecution made improper remarks in its statements calling the medical experts for the defense "high falootin" and also referred to them as "pseudo experts." It also said the prosecution improperly implied that defense lawyers are deceptive.