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August 14, 2005 Experts: Prosecution's corruption case stronger in Vegas By The Associated Press LAS VEGAS - Four weeks after the conviction of two San Diego councilmen for taking illegal campaign cash from a strip club owner, legal experts think the prosecution's case against three former Nevada elected officials in a parallel corruption probe is even stronger. Former Clark County Commissioners Lance Malone, Dario Herrera and Mary Kincaid-Chauncey are expected to go to trial early next year on charges that they accepted illegal cash from former strip club owner Michael Galardi. In San Diego, acting Mayor Michael Zucchet and Councilman Ralph Inzunza were suspended from office after being convicted July 18 by a jury. They were accused of taking $34,500 in cash bribes and campaign contributions from Galardi. The same jury also returned guilty verdicts against Malone, who allegedly delivered the cash to Zucchet and Inzunza and worked for Galardi's unsuccessful effort to repeal San Diego's "no-touch" ban in strip clubs. Galardi, who has pleaded guilty in corruption probes in both cities, testified against Malone in San Diego and could do so again in Las Vegas. Former Clark Commissioner Erin Kenny, who has pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from Galardi, has agreed to testify against her former colleagues. "My view is the Las Vegas case is much stronger," former federal prosecutor Stan Hunterton told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "After the San Diego verdict, I talked to a number of people in the legal community who said, 'Malone's got to throw in the towel now. Everyone in Las Vegas is going to plead.'" In Las Vegas, Galardi is accused of doling out over $100,000 in gifts and cash payments to commissioners for various favors, including repeal of a prohibition on alcohol in nude clubs and the weakening of an ordinance restricting touching of dancers and customers. Malone made the cash payments for him to Herrera, Kenny and Kincaid-Chauncey, none of whom reported the money on campaign forms, according to the indictment. Kenny could prove to be a key witness in Las Vegas, Hunterton said. "There (in San Diego), you had to rely on the tapes," Hunterton said. "Here, the government's going to have an insider, a former elected official saying, 'Yeah, I am a crook and they're all crooks.'" Houston defense attorney Douglas McNabb, who specializes in federal cases involving white-collar crime, said Kenny's testimony could be "incredibly harmful" against her ex-colleagues. Prosecutors will try to convince jurors that while they might not like Galardi or Kenny, the government needed them because "it takes a rat to catch a rat," McNabb said. Malone is accused of bouncing back and forth between the two cities from 2001 and May 2003, delivering money and persuading elected officials to act on behalf of Galardi's businesses. "From a practical standpoint, he (Malone) has got a super, uphill climb," McNabb told the Review-Journal. "I think that in federal criminal cases, in the juror's mind, the defendant did what the United States government said he did, or he wouldn't be sitting there." While Las Vegans might be more tolerant because of the nature of the city, Hunterton said, jurors might not be so lax with their views of ex-commissioners' alleged behavior. "Sure, we have Light and Tangerine and the Palms' Ghost Bar, but you're not apt to find people who go to those places or run them or own them on the jury," Hunterton said. "They are more apt to be conservative, older, retired military or retired law enforcement." Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, www.lvrj.com This article can also be found at San Diego Tribune SignOnSanDiego.com, and Las Vegas Sun. | |