Nevada judge rejects new trial for felon who alleged corruption

A judge outside Las Vegas rejected a bid for a new trial Wednesday from a convicted felon who alleged widespread corruption within Clark County’s justice system.

Because District Judge Michelle Leavitt could have been witness in Marlon Brown’s post-conviction hearings, Steven Kosach, a retired judge from Washoe County was assigned to hear arguments “to avoid the appearance of impropriety,” according to court records.

After a half-hour hearing, Kosach denied a request from Brown’s attorneys, pointing out that his previous petitions had been turned down.

“I’ve really never seen as extensive research and allegations and thought process. I totally trust that you think that you can prove” the allegations, Kosach said. “In 30 years on the bench, I betcha that any attorney, any person could probably find a person who thinks that I’m biased because I ruled against them … I do not see one bit of evidence that I would objectively consider to support” further proceedings.

Although the Nevada Supreme Court had already denied Brown’s challenge of his decadeslong prison sentence, his attorney continued to pursue efforts to remove Leavitt from the case and void her orders.

Prosecutors argued that there was no evidence of wrongdoing on the judge’s part.

“There’s simply nothing to show that Judge Leavitt did anything improper at any stage of these proceedings,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Alex Chen said after Wednesday’s decision. “There’s just no evidence of any of this.”

One of Brown’s lawyers, Michael McAvoyAmaya, said he planned to appeal Kosach’s decision, which he called “wrong.”

“The system will take every action to protect itself until it is held accountable,” McAvoyAmaya said. “This is kind of a depressing fact about our legal system — that our judges protect each other when they’re accused of misconduct.”

Through her lawyers, Leavitt has dismissed Brown’s accusations as “blatantly false and defamatory.”

The judge’s brother, Las Vegas attorney Andrew Leavitt, has filed a complaint with the Nevada State Bar against McAvoyAmaya, calling for his disbarment.

After Wednesday’s hearing, Andrew Leavitt said he agreed with Kosach’s decision.

“You just can’t go make up things and try and create issues that don’t exist and never did exists,” the attorney said of McAvoyAmaya. “He did it because he’s got an axe to grind from the judge. It’s sad that it even went this far. No competent attorney would ever do what he did.”

McAvoyAmaya has denied harboring animosity against the Leavitts.

Brown, 38, has alleged that the judge’s daughter had ties to a business Brown owned, which resulted in “a shocking willingness to engage in fraud and deceit to cover her tracks,” which Leavitt has denied.

In recent years, the judge oversaw Brown’s trial on battery and kidnapping charges for shooting his ex-girlfriend in the leg, ordered him to serve up to 45 years behind bars, sealed parts of his records and intervened in his appeal.

Brown owned a now-closed clothing store that another judge, former Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Melanie Tobiasson, has said was a front for an unlicensed club where teens drank, used drugs and engaged in prostitution.

Tobiasson resigned late last month rather than fight ethics charges alleging that she became improperly involved in a double murder investigation and was affiliated with an organized crime figure.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.