Columnist Jeff German: Malone paying the price for offer he could refuse

Friday, Oct. 7, 2005 | 7:55 a.m.

If nothing else, Lance Malone is consistent.

Some might admire the former Clark County commissioner for sticking to his guns and maintaining his innocence in the face of incredible government pressure.

But his refusal for more than two years to strike a deal with federal prosecutors in their ongoing political corruption probe is turning out to be a case of bad judgment -- the very thing that landed him in trouble with the law.

Malone, I'm told, recently declined another offer from prosecutors to put his criminal case behind him.

Prosecutors were said to be interested in any information Malone could provide on local developers.

That phase of the corruption investigation is shifting into high gear -- primarily with the help of Erin Kenny, the dishonest former county commissioner and Malone colleague, who reportedly has testified before a federal grand jury.

The first wave of indictments is believed to be around the corner.

Malone's situation, meanwhile, has intrigued both federal agents and the criminal defense community.

There's been a buzz for some time over how a former public official, who owns a small sandwich shop at the Orleans, has been able to afford the big-name legal talent at his disposal to keep up the fight.

Defending corruption cases in two cities (Las Vegas and San Diego) takes a ton of financial resources. There are thousands of hours of wiretaps to review and thousands of pages of transcripts and FBI reports to read.

Just putting up himself, his family and his lawyer in San Diego for a two-month federal trial earlier this year must have cost a small fortune.

Had Malone cooperated with the government long ago, lawyers say, there's a good chance that his future might not be looking as bleak today.

He even might have served all of his time behind bars by now if he had accepted the government deal his previous attorney, ex-prosecutor Don Campbell, advised him to take.

Instead Malone found himself another lawyer, the highly regarded Dominic Gentile, who has a reputation for mixing it up with the government.

Malone and Gentile fought hard in San Diego, but they lost. Malone wound up being convicted of helping ex-topless club mogul Michael Galardi, who testified for the government, hand out cash to city officials in return for political favors.

And now Malone, the "bagman," is paying the price. He faces several years in prison at his sentencing next month in San Diego.

Then he must come home and prepare for his Las Vegas trial in March and face the likelihood of even more prison time if convicted again.

The experts say the odds of a conviction here are stronger than they were in San Diego. Las Vegas prosecutors not only have the benefit of damning wiretaps capturing greedy transaction after transaction on tape, but they have witnesses (Galardi and Kenny) on each side of the wheeling and dealing to corroborate everything.

The man in the middle of it all is Malone.

Even Malone's co-defendants are trying to distance themselves from him, now that he's been convicted in San Diego.

Lawyers for former County Commissioners Dario Herrera and Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, who are charged with taking bribes from Galardi, filed motions last week seeking to be tried separately from Malone.

From what I've been told, the odds are pretty good that the co-defendants will get their wish.

That could leave Malone very lonely.