Judge keeps alive suit against Gazlay

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 | 11:14 a.m.

District Judge David Wall on Tuesday refused to dismiss alleged 311 Boyz gang leader Steven Gazlay's counterclaim that a civil suit filed by a man who says he was beaten by the gang is a "misuse" of the legal process.

The suit stems from a May 2003 attack on Sean Quinn and his friend James Sarlo at a desert area known as "the basin" near the Las Vegas Beltway and Centennial Parkway. Quinn suffered a broken jaw and nose, and now has a permanent plate in his jaw.

Gazlay's attorney, Louis Palazzo, argued that even though Sean Quinn knows Gazlay wasn't the person who attacked him with a crowbar, he has moved ahead with the civil matter in an effort to extort money from his client.

"The ulterior motive is the Mr. Quinn is attempting to use the process to extort money from Steven Gazlay," Palazzo said. "Quinn gave a report to Metro (Police) within hours after the attack describing an assailant with a shaved head who was 5'9, 5'10, weighing 130 pounds."

Palazzo said the identification Quinn offered of his assailant, which is totally different than what Gazlay looked like then and now, was a major reason that District Judge Valerie Adair set aside a jury verdict in the criminal case against his client regarding the attack on Quinn.

"It's wrong for Mr. Quinn to forge ahead when the person he described as the assailant has no similarities to Mr. Gazlay and it amounts to extortion," Palazzo said.

Quinn's attorney, Eric Daly, said the civil complaint was filed before the jury verdict was set aside by the judge.

Daly also took issue with Palazzo insinuating that Gazlay was an innocent man. Daly said that's hardly the case since Gazlay is currently awaiting sentencing for charges stemming from a plea agreement he entered for the attack on Quinn and also Stephen Tanner Hansen.

A jury convicted Gazlay of hitting Quinn and Sarlo with a crowbar in the attack, which involved multiple teens. The jury verdict was later set aside as part of a "global agreement" Gazlay entered into with prosecutors.

Gazlay entered an Alford plea before Adair to felony battery and assault with deadly weapon charges on both an attack that left Stephen Tanner Hansen with a crushed face and the beating of Quinn with a crowbar.

Under an Alford plea a defendant does not admit guild but does agree that the state could prove its case.

As part of the agreement two other cases against Gazlay were dismissed, and he will receive probation, with a suspended sentence of four to 20 years.

Daly said the counterclaim was "frivolous." He said it could be six months to a year before the case goes to trial.

In the civil suit, Daly alleges that Gazlay "is guilty of oppression, fraud or malice, express or implied" for his part in the attack and that all of the other defendants conspired with Gazlay to injure Quinn and others.

Additionally the suit alleges the defendants are guilty of negligence, civil conspiracy, concert of action, violation of Nevada racketeering laws, and negligent or intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The amount of money sought by Quinn is not specified in the lawsuit, but Daly writes that under Nevada's racketeering law Quinn is entitled to three times the actual damages he sustained. He asks for medical costs, attorney fees, exemplary and punitive damages.