ACLU rips Metro Police on reinstatement

The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada today blasted Metro Police and the district attorney's office for dragging their feet on a matter that resulted in the reinstatement of a fired detective.

District Attorney Stewart Bell said such criticisms of his office are unfair because the evidence that Metro detective Robert Nixon did anything wrong is not as strong as claimed and that it is not easy to win such cases.

"The irony in this case is that the department dragged its feet and that the district attorney refused to act aggressively and responsibly," Gary Peck, head of the ACLU in Las Vegas, said. "As a result, the arbitrator deemed the process took too long.

"Even after substantial and credible information showed that the officer falsified a statement and gave false testimony in court, the officer was permitted to remain on duty. I find that extremely disturbing."

In December, an arbitrator from San Diego ordered that Nixon be reinstated and that his record be expunged of any mention of the incident or the Oct. 23, 1997, firing.

The incident that led to that termination resulted in a federal lawsuit by Joseph and Kathy Laquitara, alleging civil rights violations of their then-14-year-old daughter Gina, who was arrested and convicted based on falsified documents.

Laquitara's conviction later was dismissed and the family settled the lawsuit for $55,000.

Nixon, who is alleged to have added Gina's name to a witness statement regarding a crime that was committed, was reinstated 14 months after the firing and is entitled to about $61,300 in back pay, less what he earned doing other work during that time.

Nixon, a 13-year Metro veteran, has remained steadfast that he did not falsify documents or do anything else that was wrong. Because it took Metro eight months to fire him, the arbitrator ruled that Nixon was wronged and should be reinstated.

"I spent about 100 hours in the law library, I cited 28 cases from lower-court decisions to the Supreme Court and I spent three days writing my eight-page decision," arbitrator Larry Schultz said from his home today.

"They (the police department) did not act within the confines of law by labor agreement, case law and customary behavior. I am confident based on my 45 years of experience that my decision was relevant, total and unassailable."

Kathy Laquitara disagrees with the decision based a lot on the grief her family has been put through.

"Needless to say, we are very unhappy," she said today. "This is an outrage. He falsified a document and perjured himself and now he will get to be a police officer again. I feel sorry for anyone who he testifies against in a case."

Peck noted that the reinstatement puts Metro in a dilemma for any case to which they assign Nixon because defendant's attorneys will have a field day pointing out to the jury that he was once fired for allegedly falsifying records.

"I can't imagine any deputy district attorney worth his salt putting Mr. Nixon on the stand to testify," Peck said. "The district attorney should answer for why it has not prosecuted him on falsifying documents and giving false testimony."

Bell said that his office was instrumental in getting the Laquitara conviction set aside and that the evidence the family and Peck provided his office was not that rock solid.

"I don't think it (the falsified statement) is absolutely clear, though it probably was officer Nixon," Bell said. "But, based on history, we have absolutely zero chance of winning this case."

Bell said that in the last 25 years the local DA's office has prosecuted three perjury cases and lost them all. The best, he said was eight years ago when they prosecuted a Henderson Police officer who not only was alleged to have falsified documents and lied on the stand but also confessed to it.

"After he was found not guilty, the jurors told us the officer had been fired and the man (he had filed false charges against) had received a large settlement from the city," Bell said. "They figured he had suffered enough."

As for Nixon's credibility in future cases, Bell said that in every case witnesses' credibilities are challenged and in every case their testimony has to be weighed against facts supported by evidence.

Bell said his office has prosecuted at least a dozen police officers in the last several years on various charges and "won virtually all" of those cases.

Attempts to reach a Metro Police spokesman for comment today were not successful. At the time of his firing, however, a police spokesman said the action was taken because "he was untruthful."

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