Friday, April 3, 1998 | 8:28 a.m.
The appeal to the high court followed a decision last month by Elko District Judge Michael Memeo to deny the attorney general's request to expunge the accusations.
"These state employees need their names cleared of any wrongdoing and a message must be sent to the Elko County Grand Jury that their purpose should not be to frustrate legitimate state actions," Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said Friday.
Del Papa had asked Memeo last December to clear the record. That followed issuance of a 14-page opinion by her office last May suggesting the grand jury may have overstepped its bounds.
The opinion was requested by Department of Conservation and Natural Resources chief Pete Morros, who oversees the Nevada Division of Wildlife.
Wildlife Director Willie Molini and three division employees were accused by the grand jury of committing the crime of oppression under color of office in a mitigation dispute involving Independence Mining Corp.
The jury said Molini and his employees illegally held up the company's permit to expand and forced Independence to pay $500,000 toward improving habitat for a displaced mule deer herd. The fee was scaled down from $1.5 million.
The grand jury report also said the crimes couldn't be prosecuted because a two-year statute of limitations had expired.
archive
