Gates keeps Mosley on Walters trial

Kim Smith

Tuesday, March 14, 2000 | 11:19 a.m.

Saying he saw "no evidence whatsoever" of bias, Chief District Judge Lee Gates denied a prosecution motion to remove District Judge Donald Mosley from a money laundering case involving well-connected golf course developer Billy Walters.

Gates made his decision after a six-hour hearing Monday that included the testimony of Mosley, two of Mosley's girlfriends, two defense attorneys and law enforcement officials.

Questions about Mosley's possible bias toward Walters began circulating after he twice dismissed grand jury indictments against Walters and it was revealed that one of the defense attorneys involved in the case, John Moran Jr., is a hunting buddy of the judge.

The Nevada Attorney General's Office obtained a third indictment against Walters in November and immediately asked Mosley to recuse himself from the case. When Mosley declined, the attorney general's office requested the disqualification hearing held Monday.

Walters is charged in the money-laundering indictment along with James Jay Hanley, Daniel Pray and John Tognino of New York. Moran represents Hanley.

Chief Deputy Attorney General David Sarnowski argued that whether or not Mosley is actually biased is irrelevant. There are too many factors that, taken together, make it appear as though there are some improprieties taking place, he said.

In addition to Moran's relationship with Mosley, there also is the fact that Pray's attorney, Jonell Thomas, once helped represent Mosley in a defamation suit against Peter Flangas, who ran against Mosley in 1996.

Thirdly, Sarnowski argued, there is some evidence that Mosley was perturbed with Metro Police Lt. Michael McClary, who would not sign an affidavit stating that certain allegations made about Mosley were without merit and the people who made them lacked credibility.

McClary and members of the police Intelligence Services Section investigated the Walters case.

"It just doesn't look right to someone who is standing outside and looking at the case objectively," Sarnowski said.

Moran testified that while he and Mosley have been hunting together on several occasions, they have always been in a group of eight to 15 people, and they have never discussed cases.

Testimony that he once purchased a gun for Mosley for his birthday is false, although he twice delivered guns to Mosley, Moran said. Once, he gave Mosley a revolver that his dying father wanted Mosley to have and the second time he delivered a rifle that a mutual acquaintance wanted to give the judge.

Allegations that Mosley favorably treats Moran's clients is "absolutely false," Moran said, pointing out that one client of his received a maximum term of 10 years when he could have gotten probation on a voluntary manslaughter case.

It also is "absolutely not true" that he and his wife had dinner with Mosley and Mosley's former girlfriend Terry Figliuzzi twice a week, Moran said.

Metro Sgt. Gayland Hammack had testified earlier that his office began investigating Moran and Mosley's connection only after Figliuzzi, who legally changed her name to Terry Mosley in 1995, revealed the relationship.

Had it not been for Figliuzzi, Metro would not have gotten a surveillance tape of Moran and Mosley at McCarran International Airport returning from a Texas hunting trip, Hammack said.

Figliuzzi was not called to testify, a point that Moran pointed out during his closing arguments.

"She's the one witness that started all of this and she's not called? How does that look?" Moran said, sarcastically recalling the phrase that Sarnowski used repeatedly in his closing arguments."How does that look when she's the one who went to Hammack and sold him a bill of goods?"

Moran said watching the surveillance tape made him sick to his stomach.

"How does that look? It stinks," Moran said. "I'll tell you what judge, Sgt. Hammack knows it stinks, too. You don't have to be a chicken to smell a rotten egg."

Moran begged the judge to deny the prosecution's motion and "send them packing."

Thomas, who testified she merely worked for the attorney (Dominic Gentile) who represented Mosley during the Flangas case, said the prosecution's motion had no merit.

The Nevada Supreme Court once ruled that nothing improper took place when a judge stayed on a case despite the fact that up until a week before a death penalty trial the defense attorney represented him in a case, Thomas said.

While the Walters case is obviously important, a death penalty case is far more important, Thomas said.

"We're leap years from that," Thomas said.

Richard Wright, who represents Walters, said the only reason the AG's office is seeking to disqualify Mosley is because they haven't liked his rulings. If Mosley had revealed his relationships with Moran and Thomas, the prosecutors wouldn't be seeking to disqualify him, Wright said.