The Nevada Supreme Court Monday rejected the appeal of Jerry Pough Sr. who was sentenced to life with parole for the 2009 fatal shooting of his son in an apparent argument in a car in Las Vegas.
The court rejected Pough's claim that the district court was wrong in allowing him to represent himself at trial despite the fact he was mentally ill.
He maintained he was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he made his decision to go it alone at trial. He had been judged mentally ill previously but was later found competent to represent himself.
In its decision, the court said, “Nothing in the record suggests that Pough’s mental illness kept him from understanding the risks of self-representation or otherwise making a knowing, voluntary and intelligent decision.”
The trial took place in 2014 after a delay over questions about his mental illness and the crowded court calendar in Las Vegas.
Pough, now 61 years old, was in the passenger seat of a car when he shot his son Jerry Jr., the driver, in the head over an apparent argument over the direction of the car.