Prosecutors could face an uphill battle

Jace Radke

Monday, Nov. 10, 2003 | 11:04 a.m.

Despite the amount of detail culled from wiretaps in an indictment that charges current and former Clark County politicians with peddling influence for money, prosecutors have a lot of work ahead to gain convictions in the case, former federal prosecutor Stan Hunterton said.

"Public corruption is among the hardest cases to prove, " Hunterton, now a local defense attorney, said of the prosecutors on the case. Juries are skeptical of government informants because they wonder what's in it for the informant."

Hunterton said the details in the wire-tapped conversations were "incredible."

One section he specifically mentioned was an alleged conversation between former Clark County Commissioners Erin Kenny and Lance Malone during Kenny's campaign for lieutenant governor on Oct. 28, 2002.

Kenny allegedly said, "Tell me what I've got to do, but I've gotta have money from him. ... I'm begging now. ... I'm on my knees begging."

Hunterton said: "If Erin Kenny lives 500 years she's always going to be known for that (comment). During World War II there was a saying, 'Loose lips sink ships,' and loose lips sure sank these ships."

The indictment charges County Commission Chairwoman Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and former commissioners Dario Herrera and Lance Malone with wire fraud. Kincaid-Chauncey and Herrera also face extortion charges and Malone faces a racketeering charge. Strip club owner Michael Galardi and Kenny have pleaded guilty in the case.

Charles Kelly, a local attorney and former federal prosecutor in Las Vegas, said that the indictment is strong on its face, but the case will come down to corroborating what the cooperating witnesses say.

"These kinds of cases are premised upon snitches so they are inherently suspect to implosion," Kelly said. "The prosecutors have to convince the jury, why the snitch should be believed this time when there is a history of deceit.

"The wiretaps swing it back toward the prosecution, because they can corroborate the witnesses' stories."

One area that Kelly says defense lawyers will attack is if polygraphs are used by prosecutors on Kenny or Galardi. Kenny's plea agreement allows for a polygraph test to be administered to her by the government.

"That won't help because there are going to be questions about why the government thought it was necessary to use a polygraph. Were they worried their witness was going to lie to them?" Kelly asked. "It could hurt the prosecution, because it could show the jury that the government has doubts about their witnesses."

George Togliatti, former head of the FBI's organized crime squad in Las Vegas, and now vice president of government and community relations for Harrah's Entertainment Inc., said he understands why the indictment took months to prepare after reading it.

"It's pretty obvious that there were volumes of tapes (from wiretaps) to go through," Togliatti said. "It's pretty detailed and pretty damaging.

"I think its a really strong first shot by the government, but it's just the first salvo."

The detail and number of excerpts from wiretaps speaks to the possibility that there may be more that isn't yet public, Togliatti said.

"There could be anything on those wiretaps," Togliatti said. "There could be evidence of crimes committed by suspects we don't even know yet.

"Right now they've got the conspiracy, but they can't stick everything into one indictment. We can only guess at this point, but I'd say that there will be more to come."

Speculation that developers and their influence over elected officials didn't pay off in the indictment, Hunterton said.

"There has been a lot of talk about whether developers paid public officials, but that's still nothing but speculation," Hunterton said. "One of the purposes for this indictment could be as an opportunity for prosecutors to signal a broader investigation."

Hunterton said that prosecutors could be getting information that hasn't been made public through three sources.

"They could have come across something in the wiretaps, from the current cooperating witnesses (Galardi and Kenny), or the defendants themselves who may have some information they want to share to lessen their jail time," Hunterton said.