Where I Stand -- Mike O'Callaghan: Protect public servants

WITH ALMOST A NEW Nevada Supreme Court there may be no need for the Assembly joint resolution to "require the Nevada Supreme Court to decide each case in conformity with the applicable decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court." The Washoe County author of this resolution can easily point to several Nevada Supreme Court decisions that fly in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court and sometimes common sense.

The first two cases that come to mind are Ruben Barrios-Lomeli vs. Nevada and Nevada vs. Harnisch. The Nevada decision on the first case flies in the face of a U.S. Supreme Court decision and the second avoids the application of common sense.

Another evasion of common sense and too much legalese was a ruling in 1993 on a case involving the search of a motorcycle after the driver had been arrested for reckless driving and placed in the patrol car. The troops found a gun and LSD in the bike's saddlebag. The court suppressed this evidence and ruled the warrantless search warrant wasn't justified because the biker wasn't a threat to either the trooper or the evidence.

At lease one justice, Tom Steffen, then on the court, wrote a reasonable dissent to separate himself from the rest of the court. He concluded, "I would characterize the search as the socially desirable product of intelligent police work partially tarnished, but not invalidated, by an unduly complex, ill-defined and chameleonic body of law on the subject of search and seizure. In brief, far too often accountability for criminal behavior is sacrificed on the alter of a judicially created labyrinth of legal nuances upon which judges and lawyers joust. It is little wonder that even well-trained police officers with the best of intentions grope for talismanic phrases and explanations that will induce the judiciary to accept what reason and good common sense dictated they should do in attempting to enforce the laws of the land."

At this time, there are several thousand public employees waiting to see if the Nevada Supreme Court will step in and protect them from conspiracy-minded local public officials and equally warped grand juries. As I wrote two years ago, the people of Elko County were finally embarrassed by a loaded grand jury and a strange district attorney. Later a judge continued the farce that was promoted to embarrass federal and state employees assigned to conservation agencies. The feds called their bluff and backed them into a corner so the bullies came down even harder on the state employees.

They zeroed in on state and federal conservation employees who had become irritants when enforcing logging, grazing, mining, hunting and fishing laws and regulations. Several were declared criminals for committing crimes by insisting that a huge mining operation pay $500,000 to begin mining on 5,500 acres of public lands that contained prime winter habitat for mule deer. This money went to the state to rehabilitate nearby lands scarred by fires. Not one cent went to any individual or other agency fund.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa answered the presentment, concluding: "State wildlife agency is authorized by law to participate with federal land management agencies to determine extent of mitigation required for permitted activities which affect habitat on public land; wildlife agency properly obtained legislative approval for acceptance and use of mitigation funds from mining company for development of off-site habitat mitigation; no basis exists to support grand jury determination that officials committed crime of oppression."

The grand jury had already done its dirty duty and smeared the federal and state employees by naming them in a presentment. Fair enough, now let's go to court. Oh no, the jurors were backed off of that limb when declaring: "The grand jury has found indictable criminal activity in this investigation and would recommend prosecution but for the fact that the statute of limitations on gross misdemeanors has passed."

Despite this conclusion, the names of the government officials being charged with crimes have been made public and, according to Elko Judge J. Michael Memeo, will remain on the record. Most old-time Nevadans believed that the use of names and smearing of people targeted but not indicted by grand juries had long ago been stopped. Not true in Elko County, which has a hierarchy that makes its own rules to punish those they disagree with and protect those of the same mind and/or philosophy.

Now the new Nevada Supreme Court has the opportunity to ensure some sense of security among public employees carrying out their duties under the law. They can't change the conspiracy problems Elko officials have been infected with, but they can protect the innocent.

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