Lawyer: Judge did nothing wrong

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2002 | 9:47 a.m.

A defense attorney who urged a client to help District Judge Donald Mosley in a bitter custody battle -- despite the fact that the client was to be sentenced by Mosley -- told the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline Tuesday neither she nor the judge did anything wrong.

Catherine Woolf testified that she knew Mosley would have to recuse himself from Joseph McLaughlin's case. She added that because she and Mosley never discussed the merits of McLaughlin's case a prosecutor didn't need to attend their meetings.

Tuesday was the second day in Mosley's ethics hearing before the commission. The judge of 19 years, who is running for re-election in November, is accused of violating 10 judicial canons.

If found guilty, Mosley could be removed from the bench.

Several of the allegations stem from Mosley allowing McLaughlin to testify on his behalf during a bitter 1997 custody hearing involving his now 10-year-old son and the child's mother, Terry Figliuzzi, who legally changed her name to Terry Mosley.

Woolf testified she had just orchestrated a plea agreement for McLaughlin in a home invasion case when McLaughlin came to her complaining about his roommate, Terry Mosley.

McLaughlin said he wanted to evict Terry Mosley and he had serious concerns about her child-raising abilities, Woolf said.

McLaughlin had no idea that Donald Mosley had just been assigned to his case and was scheduled to sentence him, Woolf said. After giving it some thought, Woolf said, she told the judge about McLaughlin's concerns.

Woolf said she knew the judge would remove himself from the case because of the conflict of interest and McLaughlin would most likely get a more lenient judge as a result.

Mosley also faces ethics charges, because after McLaughlin was sentenced by District Judge Lee Gates, he and Woolf worked to ensure McLaughlin was safe in prison.

Special Prosecutor Mary Boetsch said prosecutors should have been allowed to participate in all of the conversations between Woolf and Mosley. She also noted that Mosley waited two months after hearing McLaughlin's allegations to recuse himself.

Mosley's attorneys, Thomas Pitaro and Dominic Gentile, have argued that not all one-sided conversations are improper and that Mosley eventually recused himself.

Woolf's testimony sparked the angst of commission members Frank Brusa, Connie Steinheimer and Karl Armstrong, all of whom questioned why Woolf called the judge rather than Child Protective Services or Metro Police.

"It didn't occur to me," Woolf said.

"Why?" Brusa shot back.

"I don't know," Woolf said.

Steinheimer also asked Woolf if she benefited personally from taking the information to the judge.

"Not that I noticed," Woolf said calmly. "Judge Mosley pretty regularly kept sending my guys to prison."

Mosley is also accused of writing letters to his son's principals on judicial stationery and releasing a criminal defendant from jail as a favor for a friend -- despite the fact the defendant was assigned to another judge.