Ruling on Del Papa deposition in 2 weeks

Kim Smith

Thursday, June 29, 2000 | 11:10 a.m.

The state attorney general's office has two weeks to explain why Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and others named in a 2-year-old lawsuit should not be videotaped when they give their depositions.

District Judge James Mahan was to have decided Wednesday whether portions of Mike Anzalone's lawsuit against the attorney general's office should be dismissed.

But Anzalone's attorney, Christine Manno, said she cannot make her arguments until she has deposed Del Papa and others named in the lawsuit. She hasn't been able to, she told Mahan, because they all have refused to be videotaped, despite an agreement with Del Papa's attorneys.

Anzalone, a former investigator in Del Papa's office, claims in his lawsuit that he was forced to resign because he wouldn't participate in an investigation of Bill Bible, the retired chairman of the state Gaming Control Board.

Del Papa's attorneys asked that Anzalone's claims against co-defendants J.T. Healy and Ron Wheatley, both investigators, and Deputy Attorney General Donald Haight be dismissed, saying that Anzalone has failed to meet his legal burden in the claims.

Anzalone's lawsuit accuses Healy and Wheatley of defamation and slander and Haight of wrongful termination and deprivation of rights.

The hearing on dismissing those claims was tentatively rescheduled for Sept. 14.

Deputy Attorney General David Wasick and former Solicitor General Mark Ghan told Mahan that they had not agreed that all of the parties should be videotaped during their depositions. Ghan is now an assistant city of Reno attorney.

Mahan gave them until July 12 to file written motions explaining why.

After the hearing, Chief Deputy Attorney General Richard Linstrom said Anzalone is the only person deposed in the case so far, and the deposition was not videotaped because no agreement had been reached with Manno.

Del Papa walked out of a deposition a few weeks ago on Ghan's advice, because Manno and her co-counsel wanted it videotaped, Linstrom said.

"I don't know that Ms. Del Papa has any personal feelings about being videotaped," Linstrom said. "We just wanted the rules to be followed."

Linstrom said his office has a fear that any videotaped depositions could be edited by the media in an attempt to make Del Papa and her office look bad.

More importantly, Linstrom said, one of the former investigators in the attorney general's office was once a police officer who does not want his face publicized and his whereabouts made public.

Manno said this morning she has documentation that not only shows Ghan agreed the parties for both sides could be videotaped, but that he elected not to videotape Anzalone.

As for Del Papa, Manno said the discovery commissioner had granted a protective order that would have prevented the media from obtaining her videotaped deposition.

"I don't know why we're going back to the commissioner when he's already made a decision," Manno said.

Once the deposition issue is resolved, one way or another, Linstrom said, he hopes the case will move quickly.

"We have no interest in this dragging on," Linstrom said. "It's an ongoing irritant that we'd like to get over."