[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEVADA

[Rick Halperin]

March 31



NEVADA----new execution date//inmate drops appeals//volunteer

Execution date set for inmate


A Washoe District judge today set the week of May 15 for the execution of
death row inmate Daryl Mack, convicted of sexually assaulting and
strangling a Reno woman at a boarding home in 1988.

Although Mack denies killing Betty Jane May, he has dropped his appeals
and told the judge he wanted to proceed with his death.

He attempted to go forward with his execution last fall, but his mother,
Viola Mack, filed a petition to stop his execution, saying he deserved a
"full and fair" competency hearing.

The Nevada Supreme Court ordered a stay of his execution while it
considered her appeal, but in November, the court dismissed the petition,
saying that Mack understood his situation and the consequences of his
decision.

Mack was serving a life sentence for the 1994 murder of Kim Parks in a
Reno motel when investigators linked him through DNA evidence to May's
death.

He pleaded innocent and asked to be tried by a judge, instead of a jury.
Judge James Hardesty found him guilty, and a 3-judge panel sentenced him
to death in May 2002.

(source: Reno Gazette-Journal)