Newspaper awaits cell phone records

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2000 | 10:29 a.m.

District Judge Mark Denton has been asked to fine Clark County $500 for every day it fails to turn over cell phone records to a local newspaper.

Don Campbell, an attorney for DR Partners, the owners of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, asked Denton Tuesday to hold the county in civil and criminal contempt of court, arguing the county has violated an order from the Nevada Supreme Court.

To let the county ignore the Supreme Court would set a dangerous precedent, Campbell said.

"Don't let them get away with this judge," Campbell pleaded. "They've got to pay."

The Supreme Court in September ruled that the records are public information under state law. The newspaper asked for the records in February 1998 and sued the county because the records it received had portions of the phone numbers blacked out.

District Judge Kathy Hardcastle ruled for the county, saying the numbers were confidential, and the Review-Journal appealed to the Supreme Court.

Campbell argued Tuesday that the county has failed to turn over all of the cellular phone records.

Barbara Lawrence, the custodian of records for Verizon, the county's cell phone provider, testified that all of the requested records still exist.

No one from the county has ever asked for them, she said.

Deputy District Attorney Mary-Anne Miller said the county has provided all of the records it was required to maintain and those it still possesses. The Supreme Court's decision does not mean the county is required to go to its cell phone provider to obtain additional records, which are not public, she said.

However, Miller said, the county did ask to get more records from Verizon, and its account representative said at the time the records no longer existed.

Miller said she believes it would be "inappropriate" for Denton to subpoena Verizon to obtain copies of the cell phone records, as Campbell suggested.

Denton said he is inclined to think the Supreme Court, by its ruling, believes the Verizon records are public documents.

Denton said he would issue a written decision at a later date.