McKenna v. State

Patrick Charles McKenna was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1979 strangulation death of his cellmate, Jack Nobles, at the Clark County Jail. The original conviction had been reversed by the Nevada Supreme Court in McKenna v. State, 98 Nev. 38, 639 P.2d 557 (1982). Following retrial, the conviction and death sentence were affirmed in McKenna v. State, 705 P.2d 614 (Nev. 1985).

Kenneth J. McKenna joined the appellate team for the second conviction alongside Morgan Harris (Public Defender), Robert D. Larsen, Margaret Lafko, and Rick Ahlswede. The appeal engaged the full range of capital constitutional issues: death-qualified jury selection under Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510 (1968), and Wainwright v. Witt, 469 U.S. 412 (1985); admissibility of mitigating evidence at capital penalty hearings; executive clemency instructions to capital juries; and proportionality review under NRS 177.055(2)(d).

The defendant was Kenneth J. McKenna’s brother. The record is noted precisely: Mr. McKenna stepped into a multi-decade capital matter, representing his own brother against virtually the entire prosecutorial apparatus of the State of Nevada. The related habeas proceeding McKenna v. McDaniel, 65 F.3d 1483 (9th Cir. 1995), describes that during the capital retrial Mr. McKenna was left for three days as the sole attorney for the defense after co-counsel withdrew.

Counsel on the appellate team for the second conviction, engaged with the full constitutional framework of capital proceedings. In the related federal habeas proceeding McKenna v. McDaniel, 65 F.3d 1483 (9th Cir. 1995), the Ninth Circuit opinion describes trial-level work during the capital retrial in which Mr. McKenna served as the sole counsel for the defense for three days.