The man arrested a few weeks ago for the murder of a Nevada County man is still in custody in a Carson City jail, where he was facing prosecution for an unrelated crime. But Nevada County District Attorney Cliff Newell says that case, against 31-year-old Joseph Ward, has been resolved…

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Ward was arrested for stealing a vehicle. But Newell says Ward is fighting extradition for the murder charge and it could take a couple of months to transfer him to the Wayne Brown Correctional facility. Ward is accused of killing 61-year-old Kenneth Pestana at a home off Highway 20, about 10 miles northeast of Nevada City, while also stealing Pestana’s car and dog. He was arrested at an apartment in Carson City. Ward has also faced numerous prosecutions in neighboring Douglas County over the past 14 years, including property crimes, drug offenses, and violent crimes. Pestana also had a criminal record in Douglas County and was once convicted in 1973 in the shooting death of a convenience store clerk. He served 5 years in Soledad prison. One of the suspects in the murder of a marijuana garden caretaker in Penn Valley also fought extradition from Nevada last year. And the suspect in the recent death of a Grass Valley man must also be extradited from Nevada.