Monday, March 3, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
State Sen. Joe Neal said he gets numerous complaints from constituents who spend several days in the Clark County jail at risk to their livelihoods, only to get released without charges.
But Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell said people have been held without charges either because they're potential threats to society or because law enforcement needs time to file proper complaints.
The debate is coming to a head because of a bill introduced by Neal, a North Las Vegas Democrat, that is before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senate Bill 40 would amend state law to require that a person be brought before a magistrate and charged within 48 hours of arrest.
"My concern is that the district attorney and sheriff's department are violating the constitutional rights of our citizens," Neal said. "My theory is that Clark County is above the law, that they want to make their own law."
But Bell said requiring charges to be filed within 48 hours of arrest would be "just absolutely impossible" under many circumstances. He cited examples of evidence transported to a laboratory or information requested from another state, either of which could take more than two days to process.
"It is fair to require us to do our work as expeditiously as possible," Bell said. "But if we are obligated to charge within 48 hours, he (arrested person) would not be accountable for his actions if it turns out, for instance, that he was drunk."
Most other counties in Nevada and several states have brought individuals before magistrates within 48 hours of arrest and also usually file charges within that period.
But the SUN reported in a 1995 series that numerous people were being held in the Clark County Detention Center for up to eight days without seeing a judge or being charged. The county's so-called eight-day "kickout" policy, in which people were released after eight days if they weren't charged, was ruled unconstitutional in federal court later that year.
As a result of the court ruling, the county was required to bring individuals before a magistrate within 48 hours of arrest to determine probable cause. But Karen Winckler, a Las Vegas attorney who brought the federal lawsuit and helped write the Senate bill, said the court ruling did not go far enough.
Winckler, president of the 200-member Nevada Attorneys for Criminal Justice, said many individuals still languish in jail for several days without charges. They include people who cannot afford an attorney, she said.
Barring a murder case or other highly publicized arrest, the public defender's office won't even get involved until charges are filed, she added.
"If you had the money, you could bail out or you could get an attorney to get you released under your own recognizance," Winckler said. "They (the district attorney's office) are using the 48-hour hearing to get a continuance for the time they can file a complaint."
Neal complained that authorities are holding people in jail long enough to build a case against them.
"When you arrest a person you're supposed to charge that person," he said. "You don't put a person in jail and then investigate to see if you have a charge."
Bell said his office is willing to work with Neal and Winckler to iron out their differences. But he said his office and police must be given enough time to do their work to ensure public safety.
"I'm a big believer in giving discretion to judges to do what's best in each case," Bell said.
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