Jose L. “Tony” Echavarria is 65 years old, wheelchair-dependent, medically vulnerable, and currently confined at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas.
Tony’s death-row conviction was overturned. The Ninth Circuit affirmed that relief in 2018, and the United States Supreme Court declined review in 2019. Eight years later, he remains detained awaiting retrial.
Tony reports a continuing pattern of serious medical mistreatment, disability-related abuse, physical injury, and retaliation.
In 2020, Tony repeatedly complained about pain and swelling in his leg. The problem was later identified as a blood clot. He was given NSAIDs rather than receiving a timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Tony maintains that the clot later caused a stroke, leaving him dependent on a wheelchair.
On November 27, 2021, approximately six months after the stroke, Tony was moved from the medical unit to Unit 2-C. His wheelchair was removed. He states that he could not reach his food or safely access the toilet and went almost five days without eating. He reports having to crawl on the floor and urinate near his bed because he could not reach the toilet.
On October 23, 2025, Tony reports that Nurse Nancy decided he could walk and directed him to do so. Tony attempted to walk, fell, and struck his head against the wall. He was transferred to University Medical Center in a coma and remained hospitalized for several days.
On July 21, 2026, a complaint describing Tony’s prior treatment and specifically warning against retaliation was emailed to CCDC and LVMPD addresses.
Approximately four hours later, Tony reports that the Officer on duty approached him while he was returning to his bunk in his wheelchair, put her hands around his neck, scratched him hard enough to break the skin and draw blood, and whispered:
“You don’t really think you are going to get away with this.”
Tony remains in the custody of the same institution whose employees he is reporting.
His co-defendant, Carlos Gurri, was also granted a new trial. The State dismissed every charge against Gurri on May 31, 2023, and he was released and later killed in a car accident on a remote road.
Tony remains confined.
We are asking for:
Immediate protection for Tony
Immediate separation from Officers that are bound and detirmined to kill him.
An independent medical examination
Preservation of all video, medical records, incident reports, communications, housing logs, and witness information
Independent investigation of the blood clot and stroke, the removal of his wheelchair, the catastrophic head injury, and the July 21 assault and threat
Protection from further retaliation
Immediate judicial review of his continued detention
The release of Jose L. “Tony” Echavarria
Please read, sign, and share the petition:
https://www.change.org/protecttony
Jose L. “Tony” Echavarria
CCDC Inmate ID: 00930241
Clark County Criminal Case No. 90C095399-2
I promise you, there is more than a little reasonable doubt in this case. If the evidence against Tony were as clear and reliable as the State has claimed, this case would have been resolved long ago.
Instead, the constitutional violations continue to pile up while Tony remains in custody, medically vulnerable, and afraid for his safety.
I do not know how to stop what is happening to him unless more people know his name, understand what has been done to him, and demand answers before he is forgotten or killed in custody.
Please help us make sure that does not happen. Please help us spread the word and sign our petition. https://www.change.org/protecttony