Former deputy DA jailed in drug case

Bill Gang

Friday, Sept. 11, 1998 | 10:50 a.m.

A week after an arrest warrant was issued for former Deputy District Attorney Steve Hill following his non-appearance for sentencing on a drug charge, he was back in the courthouse -- but not in court.

There was a motion on Thursday's court calendar to set aside the warrant, but before Hill could walk through the courtroom doors, investigators from the attorney general's office arrested him.

The court case over a 1997 drug possession charge was postponed until Monday, leaving the 32-year-old suspended lawyer to sit behind bars over the weekend.

His arrest also resulted in the postponement of a preliminary hearing set for Thursday in Justice of the Peace Nancy Oesterle's courtroom on charges he tried to steal his ex-wife's car on July 8 and damaged it in the process. That case has been reset for Oct. 28.

The drug case was returned to District Judge Michael Douglas' courtroom for the sentencing earlier this year when Hill was booted out of drug court after District Judge Jack Lehman determined that Hill falsified a drug test.

Hill also faces misdemeanor domestic violence charges over a May 15, 1997, incident involving his former spouse.

In July, Hill agreed to place his license to practice law on "disability inactive status" because of "an underlying and continuing depressive disorder" that he said he "self-medicated ... not in compliance with state law."

Rob Bare, bar counsel of the State Bar of Nevada, said Hill's inactive status could turn into a suspension by the Nevada Supreme Court once he is sentenced on the felony drug charge.

After Metro Police caught Hill riding around with a known prostitute and two rocks of cocaine, he resigned and pleaded guilty to a felony charge of possessing a controlled substance in a deal that gave him an opportunity to have the charges dismissed -- and keep his law license -- if he completed drug court.