Man who harassed Ensign, Reid gets two to five years

Bill Gang

Friday, Aug. 21, 1998 | 10:44 a.m.

The man who was convicted of stalking Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., could be out of prison in less than a year.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure sentenced McCusker, 55, to two to five years in prison for threats and harassment aimed at the federal officials and their staffs in misplaced obsession over a land deal gone bad.

Michael McCusker already has been behind bars for 13 months while the felony stalking case worked its way through the justice system. He spent some time being evaluated at the state's mental hospital at Lake's Crossing, and finally went to trial in May.

McCusker had gone to Reid and Ensign for help in recovering $23,000 he said he he had lost in a Mexican land scam, but neither could help. McCusker's obsession with retribution consumed his life and his frustrations resulted in the stalking incidents and him shooting himself in front of Reid's office.

Deputy District Attorney Abbi Silver sought the maximum sentence of four to 12 years, calling McCusker a "vindictive, hostile and evil human being."

She said that had McCusker taken the witness stand in his own defense and portrayed himself as "pathetic, alone and destitute," she was prepared to call the defendant's mother to testify that he had alienated himself from the family.

Silver said the mother also would have testified that she feared being stalked by her son.

While McCusker assured the judge that Ensign and Reid no longer have anything to fear, the defendant couldn't help criticizing them at Thursday's hearing.

He said Ensign's testimony that he feared for his wife and family was "rubbish" and denied Reid's assertion that McCusker had threatened his life.

His attorney, Deputy Public Defender Drew Christensen, had asked Bonaventure to follow the recommendation of the state Parole and Probation Department of a one- to six-year sentence. That would have made McCusker, who has no criminal record, immediately eligible for parole.

Ensign is running for Reid's seat in the Nov. 3 general election.