Special Victims Unit handles heavy caseload

Kim Smith

Friday, July 13, 2001 | 4:54 a.m.

Their clients are not gang members injured in turf wars. They aren't drug dealers shot by other drug dealers. They aren't people who made bad choices.

Most of the time, their clients are children.

The seven attorneys who make up the Clark County district attorney's office's Special Victims Unit handle cases in which children have been harmed. Some have been beaten. Some have been sexually abused. Some have been killed.

The Special Victims Unit also prosecutes suspected rapists and child-porn peddlers.

This year, the unit is busier than ever.

Doug Herndon, who heads the unit, said his office filed complaints against 130 defendants between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2000. In that time frame this year, his unit filed complaints against 165 defendants.

The largest upswings have been in child pornography, adult sexual assaults and cases involving school district employees: those accused of having sex with students and those charged with possession of child pornography.

There are no easy answers to why the numbers are bucking a national trend that indicates violence is on the decrease in the United States, Herndon said. Perhaps it has something to do with population growth, better police investigations or more people willing to come forward to report such incidents, he said.

Those in the unit will tell you that while a prosecutor's job is never easy, theirs is much more demanding than the typical prosecutor's.

"I've always maintained that our unit is the hardest unit to work for in the DA's office," Herndon said. "Even though murder cases are complex and the prosecutors still have to deal with emotional family members, our victims are always righteous. Children don't ever do anything to cause what's happened to them.

"The toll on us is greater than the prosecution itself. We don't ever get past these cases."

While the physical and emotional scars are tough to handle, also troubling to the prosecutors is the extreme family dysfunction that is often part of child sex cases.

In far too many cases, the suspect is a family member and the child gets in the middle of a tug-of-war between those who want to protect the suspect and those who are out for blood, Deputy District Attorney Bill Kephart, a unit member, said.

"It's so hard because sometimes you just want to grab them up, adopt them and take them home," Kephart, a father of two, said.

Those who try to protect the suspect sometimes do so because they love him; other times they believe they need his financial assistance to survive, Deputy District Attorney Mary Kay Holthus, also with the unit, said.

Most children laugh 10 times as much as adults and yet the children he meets are often incredibly solemn, Kephart said.

"The worst part of my job is coming in and meeting these people under these circumstances," he said. "I don't get to meet them under good circumstances. I meet kids when they are teary-eyed, scared, apprehensive and confused.

"Everything the public doesn't want to accept is happening we deal with every day," Kephart said. "It eats you up."

Chief Deputy District Attorney Vicki Monroe recently left the unit after 10 years. She now screens a variety of cases for possible prosecution. Monroe, who handled countless child homicide cases, said it was just time to get out.

"I can almost remember the name of every child killed and not all of them even made the news," Monroe said.

She used her 13 years as a registered nurse to her advantage when trying cases, but in recent years, defense attorneys have begun to call more experts.

As a result, difficult cases have become tougher, and the sleepless nights longer, Monroe said.

"Jurors don't want to believe that people would do these things to babies," Monroe said.

Child-molestation cases are harder to prove now because the media have latched onto a few cases in which the victims ended up recanting, and the public's perception has changed as a result, Monroe said.

"There was a time when people thought that there's no way a child would lie, but not anymore," Monroe said.

Tammy Peterson joined the unit about a year ago hoping to find a challenging and rewarding experience. She said she's found both.

Peterson said she turns her sadness and anger into energy.

"I know this is going to sound corny, but I'm helping the victims of crime to be heard and to get justice," Peterson said.

Kephart said he "despises" people he prosecutes and that's what keeps him going.

"It's hard," Kephart said. "Sometimes I'd like to just take them out and kick their asses, but I respect our laws and our system and the idea that we have to meet a burden of proof."

Herndon, who has two children, appreciates the devotion his deputies display. "I don't think you could try these cases if you didn't have a lot of emotion and passion," Herndon said. "I think the jurors and the members of the public want to know that we are just as angry and outraged as they are." Holthus, a mother of three, said there is a general sadness that accompanies her every day, but added that she loves her job.

The best part, she said, is when a child gives her a hug.

"I feel good about what I'm doing and that makes it worthwhile," Holthus said. "The bad guys are really bad and the good guys are really good. There is a lot more black and white with these cases. Everywhere else there's a lot of gray."

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