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Hollaway v. State8/23/2000
verbally abusive to Hollaway: "There was times where she'd call him stupid and she'd just humiliate him."
Richard Ziemelis testified. He had lived next door to Hollaway and Whiting. About one month before the fatal assault, Hollaway and Whiting had argued in their apartment. Ziemelis went into their apartment, found Hollaway choking Whiting, and pulled him off of her. Another time, when Ziemelis asked Whiting about the cracked windshield in her car, Whiting said that she had argued with Hollaway and he had slammed her head into the windshield.
Dolores Killmer, another friend of Whiting's, testified. One time she was visiting Whiting, and Whiting and Hollaway had been drinking. Hollaway began choking Whiting in the bedroom, and Killmer had to pull him off of her.
The State presented evidence of Hollaway's prior conviction and rested. Hollaway presented no evidence.
In his opening statement during the penalty phase, prosecutor David Barker informed the jury that Hollaway's blood alcohol level was .13 percent, and the lab report was entered into evidence. In closing argument, however, the prosecutors did not mention Hollaway's intoxication and argued that no mitigating circumstances existed.
During closing argument, prosecutor Laura Rehfeldt reminded jurors of the testimony by Whiting's mother and the pain that Whiting's death had caused her family. Rehfeldt said: "There will be no more holidays the family spends with their daughter and their sister, Carolyn Whiting."
In his closing argument, Hollaway told the jury that he was in disciplinary lock-up. He claimed that this was because he was a threat to other prisoners, and he implied that he might kill again. There was no evidence presented during trial or anywhere else in the record to support Hollaway's assertion that he was in disciplinary lock-up or that the jail considered him a threat to other inmates.
During final closing argument, as prosecutor Barker was stressing to the jury how violent Hollaway was, an electronic stun belt that Hollaway was wearing was activated and shocked him, completely disrupting the proceedings. The jury was excused, and the district court stated that it was "intolerable that this can happen by accident when he's doing absolutely nothing." When the jury returned, the court explained that Hollaway was wearing a stun belt and emphasized that he had done nothing to warrant its activation. The prosecutor then finished his argument.
The jury retired to its deliberations and returned a verdict of death. The jury found one aggravating circumstance--Hollaway had been previously convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence--and no mitigating circumstances. The district court imposed the sentence of death on December 15, 1997.
The district court clerk sent this court the record on appeal, pursuant to NRS 177.055(1). Pursuant to this court's order, the district court appointed counsel to represent Hollaway in this appeal.
DISCUSSION
I. Issues raised by way of appeal
In his briefs to this court, Hollaway argues that the right to self-representation is not unqualified, particularly in the penalty phase of a capital case, and that the district court erred in not appointing counsel to act as a friend of the court and present mitigating evidence. He also argues that the failure to present mitigating evidence frustrated the State's statutory capital sentencing scheme. Finally, he claims that NRS 177.055(2) is unconstitutional.
Hollaway cites no authority that requires a court to appoint standby counsel. He does cite authority holding that courts have the discr
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