Tuesday, April 2, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Like the O.J. Simpson trial, the "n word" has surfaced in the oppression trial of three Metro Police bicycle patrolmen.
But unlike the Simpson case, the jury never heard the word that is alleged to have been uttered by Officer Brian Nicholson as he threatened to sodomize coin theft suspect Andrew Dersch with a police baton.
The issue surfaced Monday in a motion for a mistrial by Nicholson's attorney, Steve Wolfson -- the fifth mistrial motion in the trial.
But in the end, District Judge Lee Gates denied the motion to dismiss the jury, which includes three blacks, and start over with a new panel. It is unusual in Clark County for a District Court jury to have that many blacks.
Nicholson, 26, is alleged by Dersch to have used the "n word" in reference to Dersch's black partner in a "divert and grab" theft of a coin cup from an elderly slot machine player at the Fremont hotel-casino on June 11.
That event was captured on a security videotape. Although Dersch was caught by security officers later that day when he returned to the Fremont, the accomplice was never located.
Dersch told the jury Friday that Nicholson taunted him by suggesting he would like the anal penetration since he "ran around with" a black man who probably was his pimp.
When Dersch first reported the statement to Metro's internal affairs unit a few days after the incident, he used the term "black guy."
Deputy District Attorney David Schwartz said Dersch explained to him in a pretrial interview that Nicholson actually used the "n word" but Dersch chose not to use the term in his Metro report.
On the witness stand, Dersch also avoided the "n word," saying simply that Nicholson used a "racial slur."
In the motion for a mistrial, Wolfson said even such a vague reference was too inflammatory and could turn some jury members against his client.
Nicholson is charged along with Sgt. James Campbell, 48, and Robert Phelan, 26, with oppression under the color of law, conspiracy and filing a false police report.
Although the confrontation in the Fremont's security office was recorded by a security camera, the alleged slur cannot be readily heard.
But the camera did record Phelan slamming his fist into Dersch's chest when the theft suspect -- since convicted of two similar crimes -- refused to give police his true name.
Dersch, who had been sitting passively and talking politely with officers, is then tossed into an adjoining room where the camera could not see, although the camera's microphone still recorded the sounds.
Dersch landed on a desk and cut his head open on a cabinet, an injury that required several stitches to close.
When he continued to give a false name, he said Nicholson kicked and stood on his knee and threatened to sodomize him with the metal baton. Dersch's cries of pain can be heard on the tape.
Dersch testified that he refused to tell his true identity because he knew there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest for failing to pay child support.
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