Note: I’ve always wondered if the reason they couldn’t get an impartial jury empaneled in Reno was because they couldn’t find 12 people who would vote to convict!
A Nevada judge took the witness stand Tuesday to recall being wounded by a sniper-style gunshot through his courthouse window, and pointed across a courtroom to identify Darren Mack as the man he immediately thought shot him.
“That man, right there,” Washoe County Family Court Judge Chuck Weller said, as he told a jury that Mack’s name was the only one he gave police detectives before he was wheeled into surgery June 12, 2006, at a Reno hospital.
Weller incorrectly called him Darrell Mack at the time, but told Las Vegas jurors he’d been told that Mack was behind Internet Web blogs containing “just horrible attacks on me.”
“He’d been in my court in the process of a divorce for more than a year,” Weller said.
Mack, 46, sat impassively in the courtroom, where he is being tried on charges he fatally stabbed his estranged wife and then shot Weller, their divorce judge, from a parking structure in downtown Reno.
Mack’s lawyers contend that Mack stabbed 39-year-old Charla Mack
in self-defense and snapped into a delusional state before shooting
Weller.
Weller, who has recovered from chest wounds, found himself on the defensive during pointed cross-examination by defense lawyer David Chesnoff, who tried to suggest that Weller was inattentive and favored Charla Mack in the couple’s contentious divorce.
“Sir, just because I didn’t know his name doesn’t mean I was unfair in the divorce,” Weller replied after one question. “I’m diligent about my job, sir.”
Weller bristled more later, under questioning about his bottom ranking on a 2006 bar association survey, and about why he didn’t remove himself from the Mack divorce after learning Darren Mack was, in Chesnoff’s words, “publicly defaming” him.
“Why would I?” Weller said, calling it “absurd” to let criticism from distraught plaintiffs and defendants dictate which judge they should face.
He drew a rebuke from the presiding judge a few minutes later after he adopted a lecturing tone and made an unsolicited comment from the witness stand.
“I’ve never had my reputation attacked like this,” Weller told Chesnoff. “It’s unwarranted.”
Judge Douglas Herndon, stopped the proceedings, instructed the jury to disregard Weller’s comment, and turned to Weller.
“Judge, you know better than that,” Herndon said.
Outside the presence of the jury, Chesnoff sought a mistrial, saying he thought Weller’s comment would taint the jury’s opinion of him and Mack. Chesnoff also cited Weller’s reference at one point to the “murder” of Charla Mack.
“I don’t think it rises to the level of declaring a mistrial,” Herndon replied, ruling that trial would continue Wednesday.
Mack has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder. He could face life in prison if convicted.
The case drew widespread attention after Weller was shot and Charla Mack’s body was found in Darren Mack’s town house. Darren Mack was found 11 days later in Mexico.
The trial was moved to Las Vegas after efforts in Reno failed to find an impartial jury.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Merck // Nov 3, 2007 at 11:12 am
Note: I’ve always wondered if the reason they couldn’t get an impartial jury empaneled in Reno was because they couldn’t find 12 people who would vote to convict!
I think that’s a valid consideration. I don’t think the courts want to leave anything to chance in this trial.
2 pueblonative // Nov 4, 2007 at 7:00 pm
If that were the case, wouldn’t Mack have been the one arguing his right to have the case decided in the jurisdiction where the crime took place?
Cases like Mack’s (which I don’t think any sane person would condone) show the problem with the judicial system where rogue judges receive virtual immunity from any sort of criticism from the public. They are supposed to receive their life appointment for impartiality, not immunity.
And this always reminds me of a comment Ben Franklin made when the argument was being put forward for a lifetime appointment of a president. Supposing that there was a bad president, he sad. Without any real way of disposing of him, the only way to take care of it would be to shoot him.
3 Superfry // Nov 5, 2007 at 5:24 am
He should have aimed better, and he would have done everyone a big favor in getting rid of more “Judicial Garbage”.
4 mww // Nov 5, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Superfry, because I don’t like what you say, can I shoot you?
5 mww // Nov 5, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Mack ADMITTED to premeditated murder of his Wife and of the shooting of the judge! Is he a great fathers rights advocate to you? How about he was a rich kid that didn’t get his was and had a tantrum!
6 anothervoice // Nov 7, 2007 at 6:37 am
mww, I like your comments. Especially the part where you capitalize “wife” to “Wife”. Last I know Mack is on trial for this supposed killing of Woman that wanted a divorce and the bad aim towards the idiot that thinks to be above the law. Clearly Mack is suffering from temporary insanity, if he were not insane his aim would have clearly been better. I see Weller and his kind as judicial garbage too. If you don’t like my comments and have any desire to shoot in my direction, understand I shoot back and my aim is spot on.
And, yes, I feel much safer with Mack walking the streets than I will ever feel with Weller sitting on the bench.
7 XXX // Nov 11, 2007 at 8:59 am
The bottom line is that society as a whole is starting to realize there is corruption taking place in all parts of the United States. WIth great power,comes great responsibility and judges and lawyers and state officers are abusing that power. Shooting someone is a last resort attempt at justice. Unfortunately, in this country there isnt any. There is no justice there is just us. The taxpayer who is paying to have a lynchmob oppress its own sovereign American United States citizens. We pay your salaries.
You must log in to post a comment.