Court briefs for May 17, 2001

Thursday, May 17, 2001 | 9:52 a.m.

Former teacher faced sex charges

A 27-year-old former Mojave High School teacher accused of having sexual relations with a 14-year-old student accepted a plea bargain Wednesday.

Jeremy Green pleaded guilty to two counts of statutory sexual seduction in connection with the student and one count of open and gross lewdness in connection with another underage girl, who was not a student.

Green faces one to five years in prison on each of the sexual seduction charges and a one-year sentence on the lewdness count when sentenced by District Judge Sally Loehrer on July 18.

Green was a special education teacher and assistant soccer coach.

Former sergeant loses in court

It took a jury less than an hour Wednesday to rule against a former Metro Police sergeant whose $1 million federal lawsuit alleged that Metro wrongly demoted her in 1997.

Debra Gauthier, 44, had also alleged that she was denied a promotion because she supported Sheriff Jerry Keller's opponent in the 1994 election.

Albert Marquis, who represented Metro before U.S. District Judge Roger L. Hunt, said the speed that the jury reached a decision shows how frivolous the suit was.

Gauthier was relieved of duty on Feb. 2 after an internal affairs investigation found she violated five department regulations, including making public statements about controversial matters and being untruthful and disobedient.

The charges stemmed from a traffic stop in which Gauthier pulled over a police narcotics informant and allegedly held his hands and prayed to God to change his gay lifestyle and save his soul. Gauthier was also accused of threatening and being disrespectful to Internal Affairs Capt. Lou Pascoe.

Probation given in faked accident

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure Wednesday placed James Duna, 43, on three years' probation for staging an accident and then trying to collect insurance.

Duna of Chicago worked with Bryan Ballog to set up an accident in which Ballog had supposedly slipped on standing water in a restroom at Meadows mall.

Deputy Attorney General Gregory Hojnowski said an investigation showed the two men purposely splashed water on the floor and Ballog laid down, feigning injury. He had pre-existing injuries to his mouth.

They sprayed a blood-like substance in the washroom and then sought money from Liberty Mutual.

Ballog was sentenced to 34 months in prison.

As a condition of probation, Duna must make restitution of $10,608 in a bad check case in Las Vegas. Duna will also pay the state $1,324, the cost of his extradition from Chicago.

Suspect withdraws from agreement

One of three homeless men accused in the slaying of an elderly Las Vegas woman abruptly changed his mind in the middle of a plea agreement hearing Wednesday after other jail inmates began criticizing him.

Ernest Valezquez, 39, was in the middle of telling District Judge Sally Loehrer what he did that makes him guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in the January death of Tiffany Averill when he stopped.

"You know what? I changed my mind. I want to withdraw my plea," Valezquez said.

During a quick private conference with his attorney, Special Public Defender Bret Whipple, Valezquez could be heard uttering an expletive and saying, "I'm considered a snitch now and I don't want that either."

The hearing was postponed indefinitely.

If Valezquez doesn't accept the plea agreement, he will be tried for burglary, robbery and murder of a victim 65 years of age or older -- the same charges his co-defendants face.

Robert Whitesell, 33, Troy Schnable, 45, and Valezquez are accused of breaking into Averill's home in the 1200 block of North Lamb Boulevard on Jan. 15 about 4 p.m., stealing a gun collection and slitting her throat.

Whitesell and Schnable are scheduled to be tried in separate proceedings in January.

Two murder convictions upheld

The Nevada Supreme Court Wednesday upheld the first-degree murder conviction of Levendral D. Polk, sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.

In his appeal Polk claimed a black woman was improperly excluded from the jury by the district attorney because of race. But the Supreme Court ruled that the prosecution acted within guidelines.

The woman, during questioning of potential jurors, said she had served on a jury once before in a murder trial and that it had been an emotional experience for her. She did not want to serve on the Polk jury and added she would feel uncomfortable. She was excused by the prosecutor.

Polks was convicted in the Dec. 14, 1998, killing of Walter Hodges III.

In another decision, the court upheld the first-degree murder conviction of Marcus A. Dixon, found guilty of the fatal shooting of Daryl Crittenden in May 1998 outside a Las Vegas market.

Dixon was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison with the possibility of parole and two consecutive prison terms of 43 to 192 months to be served concurrently with the life terms.

Dixon's lawyers contended that a jury instruction on aiding and abetting was improper because it allowed the jury to convict Dixon, even if the jury did not find beyond a reasonable doubt that Dixon was the shooter.

High court upholds $14 million award

A $14 million judgment awarded to a Las Vegas mother and her daughter for injuries suffered in a 1991 car accident has been upheld by the Nevada Supreme Court.

The court Wednesday affirmed a Clark County jury's findings that the late Irving Block was responsible for a head-on collision on U.S. 95 near Beatty, in which Patsy Marie Dosh and her daughter, Kelley Spielsberg, were injured.

Block had been visiting relatives in Las Vegas and was headed north on U.S. 95. Dosh and Spielsberg were part of a singing group called the "Rocking Rebels," which had completed a two-week engagement in Tonopah. They were headed south when the collision occurred.

Block was killed and the two women were seriously injured. They sued the estate of Block.

There were two trials -- one to determine who was at fault and the other to set the money damages. That ended with a $3.6 million award for the two women who had offered to settle for $3 million.

A district judge granted a new set of trials at the request of the Block estate. At the second set, the jury came up with a $14 million verdict.

The Block estate claimed the award was excessive.

Las Vegas attorney Stephen Compan

has been named a juvenile hearing master in Family Court. Compan, who has been practicing family and criminal law in Nevada since 1987, has been serving as an alternate hearing master in the juvenile division. He replaces Frederick Fisher, who retired in January after 27 years with the court.