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Charges tossed, refiled in a day
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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nye County sheriff's Detective David Boruchowitz is accused of abusing his authority by harassing the district attorney, Bob Beckett, who has been arrested on more than 40 counts in connection with a bank account that Beckett's office managed.
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: May 25, 2010 | 6:43 a.m.
A judge in Pahrump tossed out the criminal complaint against a Nye County sheriff's detective on Monday morning, so embattled District Attorney Bob Beckett filed the charges again through his own office instead of a special prosecutor.
The second batch of charges against Detective David Boruchowitz was filed late Monday afternoon, with a request for a second arrest warrant for the officer.
The move came roughly nine hours after Pahrump Justice of the Peace Tina Brisebill struck down the first criminal complaint against Boruchowitz because she said Beckett lacked the authority to name the special prosecutor who filed it.
C. Conrad Claus filed 25 charges against Boruchowitz on Thursday, the same day the Las Vegas defense attorney said he was appointed by Beckett to serve as a special prosecutor.
Brisebill wrote that she researched Nevada law but could find "no evidence of authority for the district attorney to appoint his own special prosecutor."
Beckett said he respectfully disagrees with Brisebill's interpretation of the law, and he hopes his office will get the chance to argue the issue as the case progresses.
But if Claus is not allowed to prosecute the case, someone from Beckett's office will, the four-term district attorney said. "Either way, the case is going to go forward."
Claus and company accuse Boruchowitz of abusing his authority by smearing and harassing Beckett and two candidates running against incumbent Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo.
On May 5, Boruchowitz helped arrest the district attorney on more than 40 counts, including embezzlement in connection with a bank account that Beckett's office managed for more than a decade.
Beckett has yet to be formally charged.
Brisebill's order also voided the arrest warrant she issued for Boruchowitz on Friday.
The detective turned himself in to the Nye County jail in Pahrump on Friday afternoon and was released about 15 minutes later after being booked on 25 different charges, many of them felonies.
Boruchowitz was scheduled for arraignment on Monday. Instead, Brisebill ruled on a motion the detective filed Friday seeking to have the charges thrown out.
The judge wrote that Beckett was free to refile the charges under his own signature or that of a "statutorily authorized deputy district attorney."
That is exactly what Beckett did Monday afternoon.
This time around, the total number of charges has been upped to 27 and divided into two separate criminal complaints.
One of the documents is specific to Beckett's arrest. The other concerns the March 12 arrest of sheriff's candidate Ted Holmes and an April 17 incident in which officers are accused of kicking in the door of a Pahrump apartment and illegally searching a group of partying teenagers, including the daughter of sheriff's candidate Scott Cobel.
Both complaints were signed by Robert Bettinger, a deputy prosecutor in Beckett's office.
Beckett said a certain amount of confusion is understandable in a case as unusual as this one. After all, this appears to be the first time in Nevada history that a district attorney has been arrested while in office, former state archivist Guy Rocha said.
"There are a lot of legal issues of first impression," Beckett said. "There's no case law to rely upon or draw opinions from."
But DeMeo said Beckett's actions are nothing more than retaliation disguised as legal action. He said the district attorney's decision to refile the case against Boruchowitz is merely the latest example of Beckett's "scorched earth philosophy" toward those involved in his arrest.
The sheriff said he stands behind the detective, who worked his regular shift on Monday and remains on unrestricted duty.
"If I believed David Boruchowitz broke the law, totally different story," DeMeo said.
The sheriff and district attorney do agree on one point. Both said the legal fight in Nye County is far from over.
"This case might find itself going all the way to the Supreme Court, I don't know," Beckett said.
DeMeo put it another way: "Get your Dramamine out. I think this thing is going to give people motion sickness."
Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350.
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Nye County Politics seems to exemplify the term "Banana Republic" rather well right now.
Someone pass the popcorn please.
this story sounds like a script from the"keystone cops".
Who CAN get this ambien abuser of a DA prosecuted, this is ridiculous. Why do we have to put up with any more of his prescription drug induced bullying tactics. The man is and will always be a sneaky liar, he and his wife have caused so many people problems in this town.
She decided who would be on the cheerleading team that he stole money from the bad check program to support.
He has cost people their jobs in the past from fear that they may run against him in past elections.
It is about time that someone did what the detective did, and was not afraid to finally bring this criminal down.
The shame is, that he may get away with this too, as no one seems to know how to prosecute him.
If you have had anything to do with Mr Bob Beckett in the past, and have been a part of any of his shady deals in this town, you should be very afraid, as most people think that he will cop a pea bargain by bringing anyone he can down with him, by fessing up to all the underhanded deals during his term in office.
Others are afraid, that given his sociopathic nature, that he may go out shooting those he blames for his demise, as he seriously still thinks he will win this election. I do not think it has hit him yet that it is all over.
Others think that he is such a coward that he would never shoot anyone, time will tell.
Yet another thought is that he knows he will not get a job in his profession again, so he is attempting to live out the rest of his life in luxury after suing the Detective, the Sheriffs office, and who knows who else.
This is no joke, this is what he is seriously like.
Again, beware if you have EVER had any dealings with him that you should not have, he will pull you down.
Ok See. Let's see if you can see. I know it's hard for you to comprehend BUT there are some cops that are NOT abusive. Perhaps it's the accuser that is corrupt!
THANK YOU Michele! His name has been smeared all across the world. That AP story showed up in Singapore and Zaire as well as most of the US. How can he ever have his name fully restored?
Brien - I happen to enjoy Pahrump. You sound like sour grapes. Of course, we have meth labs but so do probably most of the small and large cities in the US. Yes, we have our problems.
Maybe the prosecutor needs special Prosecution himself. Sounds like a typical power struggle to me. Disband that damn counties prosecutors office and dump Sheriff Tony for starters.
Pahrumpkins are full of seeds. It shows too!!!!
PS. Wade Lieske, not Wayne. He was a Hard Ass Too!!! Another my way or the highway politician that pulled the wool over the eye's of all Nye County Citizens for far too long.