Comments (24) | Add a comment
Judge Mosley retirement to affect Desai trial
-
John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal
Judge Donald Mosley argues last year with a lawyer for Dr. Dipak Desai in court in Las Vegas. Mosley has announced he will retire March 2, which probably will delay the March 12 trial of Desai and two of his nurse anesthetists on criminal charges stemming from the 2007 hepatitis C outbreak. » Buy this photo
Tools
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Feb. 10, 2012 | 8:29 a.m.
District Judge Donald Mosley, who has been presiding over Dr. Dipak Desai's criminal case the past 18 months, is retiring on March 2, just 10 days before the scheduled trial.
Mosley, who turns 65 on Feb. 28, sent a letter to Gov. Brian Sandoval on Monday informing him of his retirement after 33 years on the bench.
"It has been an honor to serve the citizens of our state these many years," Mosley wrote in his two-paragraph letter. "I know that with calm reflection and your experience on the bench, your selection of my replacement will make us proud."
Mosley, whose career has been peppered with controversy, did not respond Thursday to a request for an interview to explain his decision to step down at this time.
His retirement almost certainly will delay the March 12 trial of Desai and two of his nurse anesthetists on criminal charges stemming from the 2007 hepatitis C outbreak.
Attorney Michael Cristalli, who represents one of the nurse anesthetists, said Thursday the trial was expected to be delayed even if Mosley was not planning to retire.
"I think that everyone understood that whether or not Judge Mosley was going to leave the bench, we were going to need a continuance in this matter," Cristalli said.
Several issues affecting the trial, which could run six weeks or more, are in play.
But the biggest issue, according to Cristalli, is the defense effort to discover evidence in the massive case.
A new judge also is likely to need more than 10 days to get familiar with a case that was the result of one of the biggest investigations ever undertaken by the Metropolitan Police Department.
Desai, 62, and nurse anesthetists Keith Mathahs, 75, and Ronald Lakeman, 64, are facing 28 felony charges, including racketeering, insurance fraud and neglect of patients. The charges revolve around seven people who authorities say were infected with the potentially deadly hepatitis C virus at Desai's clinics.
Chief District Judge Jennifer Togliatti has not yet made a decision on who will succeed Mosley on the case, a courthouse spokeswoman said Thursday.
The flow of evidence in the high-profile case has presented a huge problem for defense lawyers, Cristalli said.
Cristalli has estimated that there are 1 million or more pages of documents, and more are being sought.
Prosecutors think they have turned over all of the documents related to the criminal investigation and everything they received from prosecutors in Desai's federal case.
Desai is to be tried in federal court on May 22 with Tonya Rushing, his clinic manager, on one count of conspiracy and 25 counts of health care fraud.
A federal indictment alleged that the pair carried out a scheme from January 2005 through February 2008 to inflate the length of medical procedures and overbill health insurance companies.
Federal prosecutors have indicated they probably would wait to try their case until after the state trial, which means the federal trial also is likely to be delayed.
The issue of Desai's competency to assist his lawyers hasn't been raised yet in the federal case.
The unresolved issues regarding the discovery of evidence in the state case primarily are related to documents that have surfaced in the massive civil litigation involving Desai and his clinics.
As many as 250 former clinic patients infected with hepatitis have filed medical malpractice lawsuits, and thousands more have sued over the stress of having to be tested for hepatitis C.
Defense lawyers have been going all out to gain access to sworn depositions and other documents in those cases. They also have been fighting to obtain all of the files of the Southern Nevada Health District, which initially investigated the 2007 hepatitis C outbreak.
Months of delays in the case over whether Desai was competent to stand trial also have precluded his lawyers from filing an array of pretrial motions, including one challenging the grand jury proceedings that led to his indictment. Those motions will take time to go through the court process, further pushing back the trial date.
At a District Court hearing last month, prosecutors presented witnesses who said Desai was "malingering" or faking his physical impairments from two strokes to obstruct the criminal case.
Three state medical experts all testified under oath that Desai was "exaggerating" the effects of the strokes.
The three experts, part of a team that evaluated Desai for six months at Lake's Crossing, the state's secure mental hospital in Sparks, all concluded during their testimony that Desai was competent to face a jury on the criminal charges.
District Judge Kathleen Delaney agreed, issuing an order last week finding Desai fit to stand trial.
Contact reporter Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.
Trending topics:
Comments
Terms & Conditions
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The Review-Journal does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please use the Report Abuse button.
Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 24 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Mosley was the poster boy of just how ignorant the voters in Clark County are. He should have been tossed out on his ear long ago. His morals, ethics and character are so low he makes those that appeared before him look good.
Take Desai, and his other two co-jerks to Wal-Mart. Buy them a rope and show them how to use in the garage. If they had any balls at all they would hang themselves and save the tax payers some money. They are nothing but spineless wimps who have no business walking on this earth. Scum, pure and simple.
"A few bad days" LOL. SJ, I suggest you wait for the book. It's goin be a humdinger.
Judge Mosley was not a corrupt Judge. He was fair and balanced. In 33 years did he have a few bad days? I'm sure he did like anybody else would. There is a reason he kept getting re-elected. He had loyal campaign staff who believed in him. The voters re-elected him time and time again. He was tough on criminal defendants but most criminal defense attorneys even respected him.
Judge Mosley is a TV show. The most corrupt judge on the bench. What he has done to his only childs mother with the assistance of his brother judges is tragic. One can only hope someone will expose his partners in crime to protect any other victims. And what about his cocaine problem (the best kept secret in Vegas)? Anyone one questioning why he didn't retire after 30 years? He would have been fully vested. Did Mosley need the additional time to "take care of business?
Wait until you see what replaces him, do you think they will be any better?Good luck with that the Judges in this town are out of control. Maybe he got a T.V.show
Mr. Mosley can't retire soon enough.
Cha-Ching...Thank you for your service.
Judge Mosley, I must say thank you for changing my life. You are tuff but fair. You gave me one shot and I took advantage of it. Everyone had given up hope for me just lock him up everyone said. You belived in me and for that I thank you. GOD bless you.