Last week, the Nevada Supreme Court reversed the sexual assault conviction of a Las Vegas man due to the fact that a Clark County judge refused to swear in prospective jurors before jury selection began.
Dustin James Barral had been convicted on two counts of sexual assault of a minor for molesting a 4-year-old relative in 2010 and was sentenced to two concurrent life terms in prison.
According to transcripts, lawyers had reminded the judge that prospective jurors had not been sworn to tell the truth in questioning, and the judge replied, “I don’t swear them in until the end.”
However, that did not occur.