Hearing held in G-Sting

Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004 | 9:44 a.m.

U.S. Magistrate Lawrence Leavitt presided over a 20-minute closed hearing Monday on arguments about whether he should disqualify Dominic Gentile from representing former Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone on political corruption charges.

Leavitt has not made a ruling on the motion to bounce Gentile from the case that was filed under seal in May.

The federal government's motion alleges that Gentile has several conflicts of interest in representing Malone, due to his past representation of Michael Galardi in 1996.

Malone, County Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and former Commissioners Dario Herrera and Erin Kenny have been charged with trading political influence for money and gifts from Galardi, who once owned several Las Vegas strip clubs. Malone, Kincaid-Chauncey and Herrera all have pleaded not guilty, but Kenny and Galardi pleaded guilty and are cooperating with prosecutors.

The trial remains set for March 8, but may be delayed due to the thousands of hours of FBI wiretaps.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Schiess said he plans to play between 225 and 250 wiretap intercepts at trial and that transcripts for all but 55 of those intercepts have been provided to defense lawyers.