Lawyer reprimanded for missing deadlines

Monday, Feb. 21, 2005 | 8:44 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A Las Vegas lawyer who missed seven deadlines in filing a brief in a criminal appeal at the Nevada Supreme Court has been publicly reprimanded.

The court on Friday approved the Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board of the Nevada Bar's recommendation that Gary Gowen also be sanctioned for not knowing the rules of the court in filing appeals.

Gowen, according to court documents, was appointed to represent a criminal defendant. He failed to submit the opening brief seven times, causing a delay of more than a year and seven months in the case.

The court fined him $500 in October 2002, and Gowen paid the fine.

In another criminal case he failed to file required documents and the Supreme Court in January 2003 removed him as attorney.

Gowen said the reasons for the delays were an unforeseen domestic dispute, moving into a new office and hospitalization. He said the reprimand was excessive.

But the court said that Gowen had failed to show competence and diligence and knowingly disobeyed the rules of the court.

The disciplinary board in Las Vegas said a mitigating factor was Gowen had never been disciplined since being licensed in 1978.