Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Citizen review board rips officer

A Metro Police detective who questioned a burglary suspect without reading her Miranda rights and searched her purse without a warrant is guilty of serious misconduct, the department's citizen review board concluded in a report released Wednesday.

But the department's internal affairs bureau, which conducted its own probe, describes Detective Russell Lee's actions as "poor police technique."

"The concern of the board is that a violation of someone's constitutional rights is a little more than poor police technique," review board director Andrea Beckman said. "To me, that's offensive. To the board, that's offensive."

As a result of the board's recommendations, Metro officials will review several departmental policies, including their search policy, Deputy Chief Mike Ault of Metro's professional standards division said.

While the review board found fault with Lee's actions, the five-member panel placed greater blame on the internal affairs bureau for its disregard of Lee's policy violations.

Beckman pointed out that the chain of command approved the findings that Lee engaged in poor police technique, which suggests the lack of objectivity goes deeper than the officers who conducted the investigation.

This report stems from an internal affairs complaint filed by Clark County Deputy Public Defender Timothy O'Brien last year.

The complaint accused Lee, a member of Metro's tourist safety bureau, of violating the rights of Shiela Green, 41, while investigating a burglary at the Rio hotel casino in December 2002.

Lee allegedly failed to read Green her Miranda rights before questioning her about her involvement in a break-in of a guest room and looked through her purse without a warrant or her permission.

An officer must advise a citizen of their Miranda rights, which include the right to speak to an attorney and the right to remain silent, before questioning.

A videotape of Lee questioning Green in the Rio's security office showed he didn't follow proper procedure, O'Brien said.

At Green's preliminary hearing Lee testified that he gave Green a Miranda warning within minutes of bringing her into the Rio security office.

Initially, internal affairs dismissed O'Brien's complaint, which alleged that Lee committed perjury, so he asked the citizen review board investigate.

The review board's screening panel analyzed the complaint and found it warranted further investigation by internal affairs and sent the case back, requesting that officers review the case again.

During the second internal affairs investigation, Lee said he never provided Green with a Miranda warning.

Internal affairs determined that Lee did not testify truthfully about giving the Miranda warning because he had not reacquainted himself with the case by looked over the file before being called to the stand.

"This whole thing comes from a real performance issue that this person had," Ault said. "The detective failed to prepare for court and that led him to testify falsely in court."

But the review board says the internal affairs investigation was not thorough and it "failed to address crucial policies of the department with respect to search and arrest."

Lee searched, interrogated and handcuffed Green without advising her of her rights, the report says.

But the bigger issue is how the internal affairs bureau handled the investigation into Lee's actions, according to the report.

"It is this panel's belief that the detective's actions were actually overshadowed by IA's disregard of the policy violation and statement that (it) does not rise to the level of misconduct but is simply 'poor police technique,"' the report says.

It says the officers conducting the internal affairs probe lack knowledge of their own department's policies and procedures as well and lack objectivity.

Lee's search of Green's purse also raises questions about Metro's search policies.

Lee didn't have a warrant to search her purse, but he thought he had "implied consent" because she gestured toward her purse.

Beckman, an attorney for more than 20 years, said the term "implied consent" is puzzling.

"I've never heard of it," she said. "That's a very interesting manner in obtaining consent."

However, because Metro's search policy is vague, the board was unable to determine if Lee violated it, the report says. The policy does not address the manner in which an officer can obtain consent.

The board recommended that Metro review its search policies to ensure officers are consistent with Nevada law and describe in greater detail the manner in which searches may be conducted.

The board's report also says Lee should be given a written reprimand for giving false testimony in court.

As a result of the review board's findings, Ault said, the department has "tightened up some internal review procedures," addressed Lee's behavior through discipline and "performance counseling."

"The bottom line is the system works," Ault said. "They exposed an issue that we have dealt with. The preliminary (internal affairs) investigation didn't uncover all that it needed to uncover."

Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, said the issue is about more than Metro policies.

"It's about the law and basic constitutional rights," he said. "Simply putting a written reprimand in the detective's personnel file hardly seems proportionate to the seriousness of the misconduct."

This case is important, Beckman said, because "it reinforces the reason why we need an independent review board ... It took the citizen review board panel referring this case back to (internal affairs) to make them investigate the case."

O'Brien agreed.

"Clearly the citizen review board pointed out some serious problems with internal affairs," O'Brien said. "I just regret that internal affairs didn't take it more seriously."

The case against Green was dismissed, but she is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole stemming from other convictions and because of her designation as a habitual criminal.

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