Fed lawsuit filed against Mosley

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2003 | 11:04 a.m.

A federal lawsuit filed against District Judge Donald Mosley alleges that Mosley violated a criminal defendant's civil rights by toughening her sentence and exposing her to double jeopardy.

The class-action lawsuit could potentially affect other cases presided over by Mosley. The suit calls for Mosley to review all of his past criminal cases to determine if he illegally resentenced any defendants.

The suit alleges that during a 2002 hearing Mosley admitted to "violating the rights of other criminal defendants in a similar manner ever since his appointment to District Court."

Mosley, who has served on the bench for 23 years, did not return calls Tuesday and this morning for comment.

The plaintiff, Jeanette Faye Sadoski, is currently under house arrest. She alleges that Mosley changed her sentence for theft from a misdemeanor to a felony after another charge came to light.

Sadoski is asking for a preliminary injunction that would release her pending the outcome of the federal suit. She is also seeking unspecified punitive and exemplary damages against Mosley.

The suit further calls for Mosley to be prohibited from resentencing defendants without an order from a federal judge and asks that Mosley inform any defendants that he may have resentenced illegally that they can sue.

Other defendants in the suit, which was filed Jan. 7 in U.S. District Court, include former District Attorney Stewart Bell, Deputy District Attorney David Barker, Nevada Department of Corrections Director Jackie Crawford, Nevada Department of Public Services Director Richard Kirkland and Nevada Chief of Parole and Probation R. Warren Lutzow.

Bell and Barker are alleged to have urged Mosley to make what the suit calls an illegal sentencing change, and the suit targets the state officials for not "disregarding and refusing to enforce the change."

The suit stems from a June 2000 guilty plea by Sadoski to a $6,000 theft from a Las Vegas store where she worked, according to her attorney Clark Garen.

The suit states that Mosley originally sentenced Sadoski to a gross misdemeanor and a suspended sentence of one year in prison. But between the time that Sadoski gave her plea and the time she was sentenced she was arrested on a drug trafficking charge, according to court documents filed by the District Attorney's office.

A new sentencing was ordered by Mosley.

Sadoski was resentenced to 32 months in prison with minimum parole eligibility of 12 months. In July 2002 Sadoski was paroled on the drug charge, but remains under house arrest on the theft charge, which runs concurrent to the drug charge.

Nevada law specifically allows a judge to reduce sentences but does not address lengthening them.