AG fights disclosure of records in probe of gaming regulators

Tuesday, March 7, 2000 | 11:31 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state attorney general's office said Monday the Sun and KLAS Channel 8 have no constitutional right to pretrial documents involving a secret investigation of gaming regulators.

In a brief filed in District Court in Las Vegas, the attorney general's office insists the records be kept confidential "for the protection of the privacy of persons who were not arrested from the stigma of being singled out as criminal suspects."

Arguments are set for March 15 before District Judge James Mahan on the motion of the news organizations to unseal the records, which include interviews with ex-state Gaming Control Board computer expert Ron Harris, who was sentenced to prison for installing cheating devices in slot machines.

The records are part of a case brought by Mike Anzalone, a former investigator in the attorney general's office, who sued saying he was fired for his refusal to take part in a probe of Control Board members, including former Chairman Bill Bible.

About 900 pages of documents reportedly disclosing the attorney general's intelligence gathering have been turned over to Anzalone's attorneys.

The attorney general's office, in the brief signed by Solictor General Mark Ghan, said the media representatives "have no greater right to information than the public generally."

Ghan said a prior court ruling keeping the documents confidential was issued for good cause because the newspaper and the television station "have consistently sought to try this case in the press rather than allowing the case to be tried in this court where the due process rights of the parties are afforded protection."

Ghan said videotaped interviews and statements by Harris referred to innocent third parties, whose privacy need to be protected. In addition, he said allowing the documents to be made public poses the danger that the state may not get a fair trial.

The state's brief said any document introduced into evidence at the trial would be made public then. Ghan said the news media has no free speech right to obtain the documents or videotapes, which are the subject of a protective order issued on a showing of good cause.

"A protective order is not a prior restraint on speech," Ghan said.