Liver transplant sought for gang leader

By Jeff German (contact)

Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Federal prosecutors may be considering the death penalty for jailed Aryan Warriors leader Ronald “Joey” Sellers.

But his attorneys say the 40-year-old white supremacist’s failing liver will beat authorities to the punch if he doesn’t get a transplant soon.

In federal court papers, Indiana death penalty specialist Richard Kammen and First Assistant Federal Public Defender Michael Kennedy are demanding U.S. marshals get Sellers a liver transplant in the next six months. If they don’t, Sellers likely will die, his lawyers said.

Sellers’ brother is willing to donate part of his liver in a partial transplant operation that the attorneys say could extend their client’s life.

They want the Nevada Corrections Department, which had been housing Sellers before his federal murder and racketeering indictment, to foot the bill for a transplant that, according to online medical Web sites, could cost $100,000 to $400,000.

The lawyers say unsanitary prison conditions caused the tattoo-laden Sellers to become infected with the liver-destroying hepatitis C virus.

Kammen and Kennedy also want federal authorities to transfer Sellers from a small facility in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., to the more contemporary Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, where Sellers can get better medical treatment.

The complicated process of seeking the death penalty for Sellers, who is accused of running a violent criminal organization out of the state prison system, has been put off until President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee for attorney general, Eric Holder, takes office next year.

In the meantime, Kammen and Kennedy have urged a federal magistrate to order the marshals to set the wheels in motion for the transplant.

The government has yet to offer its opinion on the subject in court papers.

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Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki’s arraignment is expected to be delayed.

Krolicki was supposed to appear before arraignment master Kevin Williams at 1:30 p.m. today at the Regional Justice Center to enter a plea to felony misappropriation charges. But his busy Las Vegas defense lawyer, Richard Wright, asked for another date because of a scheduling conflict.

Wright and Chief Deputy Attorney General Conrad Hafen, who is prosecuting Krolicki, have agreed to push back the arraignment to 1:30 p.m. Dec. 30. Williams made it official with an order Wednesday.

Krolicki probably never thought he’d be ushering in the new year this way.

•••

If District Attorney David Roger seems a little down this holiday season, he’s got a good reason. His longtime executive assistant Kathy Karstedt is retiring Jan. 2 after 22 years in the DA’s office. Karstedt spent 16 of those years with Roger, including his six years as district attorney.

Roger recalls that when he was working his way up the ladder years ago, a supervisor told him everyone in the office was replaceable, especially him.

In Roger’s mind, however, the one exception might be Karstedt, who has kept his professional life in order all these years.

“She has such a pleasant personality,” he says. “I don’t think she’s ever had a bad day. This is going to be a huge loss.”

Karstedt’s absence will also be felt by reporters who have come to rely on her to keep up with the flow of information out of the district attorney’s office.

“We’ve tried to provide a great deal of transparency in the office, and Kathy has taken the lead on that issue,” Roger says. “She deals with reporters constantly each working day, providing as much information as possible.”

Karstedt follows her husband, Mike, into retirement. He left in October after years as one of the office’s top investigators.

Mike Karstedt, a former Metro Police detective now working as a private investigator, is perhaps best known for his work on the investigation of the high-profile 1998 death of casino boss Ted Binion.