DA differs with Tahoe casino in videotaped arrest case

Bu Brendan Riley

Wednesday, Dec. 15, 1999 | 10:38 a.m.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - A prosecutor says a Tahoe judge erred in imposing restrictions on a videotape showing a late-night melee between two women and several guards in a casino nightclub.

But Douglas County District Attorney Scott Doyle also said he's not sure whether the Nevada Supreme Court should review the case now, or wait until the end of a misdemeanor case against the women in Tahoe Justice Court.

The pretrial protective order sought by Caesars Tahoe was issued at a hearing allegedly held with no advance notice to the women. Doyle didn't comment on the lack of notice, but said there's nothing in Nevada law to let anyone except the defendants or his office request such an order.

Doyle's comments were included in a response filed with the Supreme Court to a petition filed by one of the women, Aneka Leth Routsis, in efforts to beat misdemeanor assault and battery charges filed against her.

Caesars attorney Michael Johnson also didn't mention the notice issue. Instead, in his response he said the protective order was needed to prevent a "circus-like spectacle" in the case involving Routsis, 35, of Incline Village, and Stephanie Landauer, 27, of Kings Beach.

He added the ruling prevents Routsis from posting clips from the Sept. 5 videotape "on her pornographic Internet Web site" or using the tape "as a means of promoting her career as an adult entertainer."

Johnson also said Tahoe Justice of the Peace Steve McMorris' order, later ratified by Justice of the Peace Mancuso of Incline Village, didn't prevent the defendants or Routsis' lawyer, Mike Roeser, from getting a copy of the tape. He said it merely prohibits any recopying or broadcasting.

According to Roeser, the tape shows Landauer being pushed face-first into a wall - by accident, according to guards - and Routsis trying to help her friend and being thrown, kicking and screaming, to the ground by several security guards.

The two women had been dancing and drinking until after 4 a.m. at Nero's, a Caesars nightclub. They were told to leave after moving from the dance floor to "go-go" cages reserved for dancers working in the club.