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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Second Degree Murder |
Sentence: |
18 years to life imprisonment |
Years Imprisoned: |
3.5 |
Year Crime: |
2012 |
Year Convicted: |
2013 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Nevada |
County or Region of Crime: |
Clark |
City of Crime: |
Las Vegas |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Posthumously - Died in prison |
Summary of Case: |
"Dipak Kantilal Desai, M.D. was wrongly convicted in 2013 of second-degree murder in the death of Rodolfo Meana on April 27, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dipak Desai was the original founding member and managing partner of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas. Desai's prosecution was based on Meana's death from hepatitis C that he contracted on September 21, 2007 from the unsafe injection practice of a nurse anesthetist at the clinic. Meana received some treatment during the four years and seven months between contracting hepatitis C and his death, but he disregarded the advise of at least two doctors and voluntarily declined to adequately complete any treatment. The prosecution contended that as the managing partner of the clinic that Desai had a causal relationship to Meana's death. Desai's defense was he did not commit the affirmative act that resulted in Meana's contraction of hepatitis C, or his death after his refusal to complete treatment to conteract it. After his conviction by a jury, Dipak Desai was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison. Desai appealed. Desai died on April 10, 2017 at the Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno. Desai had been transported from the Northern Nevada Correctional Center, where he had been serving his sentence. On July 27, 2017 the Nevada Supreme Court reversed Desai's second-degree murder conviction on the basis the prosecution introduced insufficient evidence to prove every essential element beyond a reasonable doubt. Because the jury didn't specify if it had found Desai guilty of second-degree murder or second-degree felony murder, so the court ruled that the prosecution failed to prove his guilt of either one. Regarding second-degree murder the Court ruled: "Because Desai's conduct was a step removed from the act that caused the harm, we conclude that any rational trier of fact could not have found beyond a reasonable doubt the essential elements of murder in the second degree." Regarding second-degree felony murder the Court ruled: "Meana did not die as an immediate and direct consequence of Desai's actions. Rather, his failure to pursue treatment broke any such direct causal connection. Moreover, the improper act did not have an immediate relationship to Meana's death because over four years passed between the two occurrences, and Meana refused any medical treatment that may have cured the disease that caused his death." [Kusum Desai, As Personal Representative For Dipak Kantilal Desai v. The State of Nevada, 133 Nev. Adv. Op. 48 (Nev. Sup. Ct., 7-27-2017)]" |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On July 27, 2017 the Nevada Supreme Court reversed Desai's second-degree murder conviction on the basis the prosecution introduced insufficient evidence to prove every essential element beyond a reasonable doubt." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
63 |
Age When Released: |
67 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Kusum Desai, As Personal Representative For Dipak Kantilal Desai v. The State of Nevada, 133 Nev. Adv. Op. 48 (Nev. Sup. Ct., 7-27-2017) (Reversing conviction based on insufficient evidence.)" |
Information Location 1: |
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10532497771870186172&q=Dipak+Desai&hl=en&as_sdt=4006 |
Information Source 2: |
"Desai’s murder conviction overturned three months after death, By Jessie Bekker, Las Vegas Review-Journal, July 27, 2017" |
Information Location 2: |
https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/desais-murder-conviction-overturned-three-months-after-death/ |
Information Source 3: |
"Desai sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole for hepatitis outbreak, By Jeff German, Las Vegas Review-Journal, October 24, 2013" |
Information Location 3: |
https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/desai-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-with-possibility-of-parole-for-hepatitis-outbreak/ |
Information Source 4: |
"Las Vegas doctor convicted in deadly hepatitis C outbreak dies, By David Ferrara, Las Vegas Review-Journal, April 11, 2017" |
Information Location 4: |
https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/las-vegas-doctor-convicted-in-deadly-hepatitis-c-outbreak-dies/ |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org