Prosecutor’s involvement called a lapse

Saturday, July 29, 2006 | 7:55 a.m.

A Clark County chief deputy district attorney and candidate for Las Vegas Justice Court "didn't exercise good judgment," his boss says, when he vouched for a criminal defendant who handled his advertising and made a sizable contribution to his previous campaign.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger said Friday that prosecutor Bernie Zadrowski, head of the bad check unit, showed a lapse of judgment in a January court hearing and is no longer involved with the case in which a former Zadrowski campaign consultant is accused of bilking an elderly victim out of more than $180,000.

Zadrowski, a candidate for the newly created Department 10 of Las Vegas Justice Court, insists he did nothing wrong.

The defendant, Las Vegas businessman and Republican Party activist Monty Miller, 55, has been in the news recently in connection with a bribery case against Clark County Recorder Frances Deane.

Miller, who owns American Document Co., recently testified that he paid Deane $20,000 for early access to documents filed with her office, and planned to make a large profit by selling them to other companies. He is considered a cooperating witness in that case.

But months before the Deane case created headlines, Miller found himself in legal trouble when he was charged in October with a single felony count of elderly exploitation along with 10 counts of felony theft in connection with a now 71-year-old victim.

As detailed in Miller's arrest warrant, the victim, who is in a wheelchair and suffers from memory loss, attended an anti-abortion function at his Las Vegas home on Dec. 3, 2004. The victim, who now resides in an assisted-living facility in Las Vegas, had known Miller's wife, Kathleen, for many years through prior anti-abortion activities.

After the victim complained to the Millers about her living arrangements, Monty Miller allegedly offered to help with her care and finances. He eventually prepared a living trust in the victim's name, with Miller and his wife serving as successor trustees, according to the warrant.

As the result of various transactions, Monty Miller allegedly took from the victim property and currency valued at more than $184,000 through February 2005.

During the early stages of the case, in which Miller has pleaded not guilty, his bail was set at $35,000 and he was subjected to house arrest. Initially, Las Vegas Justice of the Peace William Jansen denied Miller's requests for reduction of bail and release from "intensive supervision."

At a Jan. 5 hearing, with neither Miller nor his attorney present, Jansen denied a defense motion to end the house arrest. That's when Zadrowski - appearing for the first and only time in a case that had been assigned to other prosecutors - emerged from inside the courtroom and asked the judge for a private, sidebar conference. After the off-the-record discussion between Jansen and Zadrowski, they went back on the record.

"Judge, with regard to his motion for taking him off the intensive supervision, the state is satisfied that Mr. Miller is not a threat in that respect and so we're not opposing it," Zadrowski said.

Zadrowski also requested that Jansen postpone a scheduled Jan. 11 preliminary hearing. Based on Zadrowski's requests, Jansen agreed to release Miller from house arrest and postponed the preliminary hearing until March. The case has since been continued to Aug. 9.

In a phone interview Friday, Zadrowski said he intervened after being asked to do so by Kathleen Miller, whom he had also known for several years through anti-abortion functions.

"I didn't do anything for him that I wouldn't have done for anyone else I knew wasn't a flight risk," Zadrowski said. "I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't do anything unethical or illegal."

But he added: "In hindsight, I should have kept out of it. In hindsight, I shouldn't have stuck my nose in it."

Campaign contribution and expense reports that Zadrowski filed in his failed bid to win a seat on the Las Vegas Justice Court in 2004 show that he received $11,700 in in-kind contributions - nonmonetary donations, typically services - from Miller and his American Document Co., including discounts on mailings. Zadrowski also paid Miller and his company $24,417 for campaign advertising.

The on-the-record transcript of the January court hearing shows no evidence that Zadrowski disclosed his prior campaign relationship with Miller. When Zadrowski was asked Friday whether he had disclosed that relationship in his off-the-record conversation with Jansen, he said: "I don't remember what I said to the judge, but I would have told the judge that I knew him."

Jansen told the Sun on Friday: "I don't recall any of that. I don't have a recollection of that whatsoever."

Zadrowski said he was not disciplined for his participation in the case. Although Roger declined to comment on what he called a personnel matter, he said that when he became aware of Zadrowski's actions he was not pleased.

"Bernie Zadrowski is a great prosecutor, but in that one incident he didn't exercise good judgment," Roger said. "He shouldn't have been involved in that case. He had a lapse."

Lawyers, whether they are prosecutors or in private practice, must adhere to codes of ethics included in Nevada Supreme Court rules and enforced by the State Bar of Nevada.

"There are rules that address a situation where any lawyer, including a prosecutor, has violated their ethical duty of truthfulness and fairness," said State Bar President Rew Goodenow, a Reno lawyer.

Rule 172, for instance, states that a lawyer should not knowingly fail to disclose "a material fact to a tribunal when disclosure is necessary" to avoid "assisting a criminal or fraudulent act by the client."

Zadrowski's opponents in the Aug. 15 nonpartisan primary are Las Vegas Municipal Judge Abbi Silver and Las Vegas attorney Kenneth Pollock.

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