Prosecutors question whether judge in Walters case is biased

Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2000 | 12:53 p.m.

Prosecutors have questioned whether the judge hearing the money laundering case of gambler Billly Walters is biased against police investigators.

They contended in court papers filed late Monday that District Judge Donald Mosley should either recuse himself from the case or permit another judge to hold an evidentiary hearing on the matter.

"A reasonable person would question the judge's impartiality," Deputy Attorney General David Thompson wrote.

According to the motion, Sgt. Gayland Hammack, the lead investigator in the Walters case, also probed allegations lodged last year by a prison inmate who testified on Mosley's behalf at a child custody hearing in 1997.

The inmate, Joe McLaughlin, said Mosley reneged on a deal to levy a light sentence in exchange for testimony critical of the mother of Mosley's child.

Mosley, who recused himself from McLaughlin's criminal case on the day of the custody hearing, has ridiculed the claim.

In affidavits filed Monday, Hammack and his superior officer in the Metropolitan Police Department's Organized Crime Bureau, Lt. Michael McClary, said police last year forwarded their findings from McLaughlin's allegations to the FBI and an unidentified state agency. No charges have been filed.

The lieutenant said Mosley later arranged a meeting with Sheriff Jerry Keller and argued that Hammack had a "vendetta," against him.

In Monday's motion, prosecutors do not go as far as to say Mosley is biased against Hammack and other officers in the Walters case. Rather, they argue he should recuse himself because his actions and statements place his impartiality in question.

Walters, a local professional gambler and developer of golf courses, is charged with three other men in what prosecutors say was a conspiracy to place illegal bets with out-of-state bookmakers then transport the winnings back to Nevada.

Mosley dismissed two prior indictments in the case. One of those decisions was overturned by the Nevada Supreme Court, and the other is on appeal.

Prosecutors earlier failed to get Mosley dismissed from the case.