Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Court rejects plea of Vegas man accused of murder

Mario Camacho

Mario Camacho

The Nevada Supreme Court has denied a petition to disqualify the entire Clark County District Attorney's Office in prosecuting a man accused of murder and facing the death penalty.

Mario Camacho, charged with the fatal shooting of one man and wounding another in his North Las Vegas home, claims District Attorney Steve Wolfson has a conflict of interest because Wolfson once represented him in the defense of a robbery-burglary case.

Wolfson was in private practice at the time and his law office acted as counsel for Camacho, who pleaded guilty in that case seven years ago. Another lawyer in the firm handled the case.

The Supreme Court said there does not appear to be any confidential information in the robbery-burglary case that could be used in the present case in seeking the death penalty.

The court said the disqualification of an entire prosecution staff is only required in extreme cases where one of the lawyers has a potential conflict of interest.

The court noted the District Attorney's Office conducted a screening process regarding whether Wolfson should be barred from participating in the case. It said Senior District Judge Charles Thompson did not act "arbitrarily or capriciously" in denying the motion to ban the entire office from prosecuting the case.

Camacho, 33, is charged with murder with a deadly weapon in the fatal shooting of Frank Wiest, 18, and the attempted murder of Cody Lucas, 20, acquaintances of his.

Camacho maintains the victims were guests in his home in February and somebody else fired the shots that killed Wiest and wounded Lucas. Both men were shot in the head.

He is also charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping, first degree kidnapping with use of a deadly weapon, coercion with use of a deadly weapon, attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm by an ex-felon.

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