US attorney for Nevada reflects on tenure, leaves ‘feeling fulfilled’
With about a week left in his tenure as U.S. attorney for Nevada, Nicholas Trutanich has two cases he’s most proud of.
One is the effort to prosecute three members of the boogaloo movement in an alleged conspiracy to cause violence during Black Lives Matter demonstrations. The second is the conviction of Conor Climo, who admitted to planning violent attacks in 2019 against the Anti-Defamation League, a Las Vegas synagogue and a Fremont Street bar.
“We stopped potential violence before it happened through prosecution; we’re really proud of those cases,” Trutanich said.
And though he won’t say just yet what he’ll do next, or who is replacing him, he did say the announcement will come after he leaves office at the end of the month.
“I’m leaving the job feeling fulfilled, knowing we’ve made a lot of progress,” he said. “And I’m going to cherish the next eight days that I have in this office like I cherished the last couple of years.”
Trutanich announced last week that he would leave the Department of Justice after two years. Under President Joe Biden, the department has asked for the resignations of 56 U.S. attorneys appointed by former President Donald Trump.
Increased staff, collaborations
In an interview with the Review-Journal on Thursday, Trutanich reflected on his short tenure as Nevada’s top prosecutor.
He said he focused on the priorities that reflected the needs of the state: human trafficking, domestic violence fatalities, opioids, violent extremists and pandemic fraud.
He also beefed up staffing and hired more than 75 new attorneys and staff to the office and has continued hiring and training. When he started, there was a vacancy rate approaching 40 percent — more than double any other district in the country, he said.
“I’m looking forward to the great things that those prosecutors are going to be doing for the years to come to keep this state safe,” he said. “I’ll be looking on with admiration from the private sector.”
Trutanich also launched Project Veronica in 2019, which used nearly $7 million in federal grant money and was aimed at curbing the most severe abuse cases in Nevada. He also led prosecutions against those accused of trying to commit fraud related to the coronavirus relief package.
Also under Trutanich’s watch, a record eight federal sex trafficking cases were filed in 2020, compared with one in 2019 and zero in 2018.
An increase in collaborations and partnerships with law enforcement also has been successful. During many partnerships with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, guns were seized from felons who were prohibited from having firearms during domestic violence calls.
“They can be a genuine partner throughout the investigation process, and it limits complications or issues,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Patrick Gorman. “And when prosecutors are well informed along the way, it, it provides more ample opportunities for them to provide input and not after the fact.”
‘Passion for helping victims’
Before taking his position as the top federal prosecutor in the state, Trutanich had worked as a chief of staff for then-Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt.
As U.S. attorney, Trutanich said his biggest regrets are the decisions he didn’t make, including amplifying the work of his staff. He also said he wishes Project Veronica had been started earlier.
“Nevada is on the wrong end of the chart, with respect to domestic violence fatalities,” he said. “We could have launched that earlier, bringing more resources to the state, preventing domestic violence fatalities even more than we already have done.”
After George Floyd was killed by police in Minnesota, sparking protests across the country, Trutanich helped lead a nationwide Justice Department program to reform police department use-of-force policies.
The program prohibited chokeholds and required law enforcement agencies to certify that their use-of-force policies met the minimum standard of being in compliance with state, local and federal law.
Trutanich was the first Nevada U.S. attorney in nearly 25 years to serve on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, providing advice on policy and operational issues affecting the Justice Department.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said in a statement Thursday that he appreciated the time getting to know and working with Trutanich, thanked him for his service and wished him the best.
“We’ve collaborated on a number of issues, including eradicating human trafficking and domestic violence from our communities,” Ford wrote. “I have witnessed firsthand his passion for helping victims of crime and seeking justice on their behalf.”
Not all cases handled by his office were successes: A jury acquitted eight Vagos Motorcycle Club members last year of racketeering and murder charges in a case that cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
Prosecutors pursued the case even after their star witness, former Vagos member Gary “Jabbers” Rudnick, was caught lying two months into the seven-month trial. In a three-page court brief, prosecutors dismissed all charges against 11 more defendants.
U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro tossed out the Cliven Bundy case in the middle of the trial in 2018 because of “flagrant” government misconduct. Though that was before Trutanich’s time, he said it was one of his first decisions on whether or not to appeal Navarro’s decision, which was eventually upheld by an appeals court.
“Whether or not you’re at a press conference, you know, announcing charges or in court dismissing charges, our only mission is justice,” he said. “I’m just as proud of the decisions ultimately made in those cases as I am any other decision in the office.”
Mission of ‘equal justice’
Trutanich’s efforts also impressed longtime defense attorney David Chesnoff, who negotiated a plea deal with him in the case of hip-hop producer Jamal Rashid, commonly known as Mally Mall.
Rashid pleaded guilty in 2019 in federal court to unlawfully owning and operating a prostitution business guised as escort businesses. In a statement, Chesnoff said that Trutanich ran a clean house.
“He brought an openness and congeniality to the office that promoted fair justice for people,” Chesnoff said. “He was the most accessible U.S. attorney that I dealt with in 40 years of practice and was universally respected.”
Trutanich said his only advice to his successor is to continue to do justice.
“Equal justice for all is the department’s mission and to carry that on,” he said. “Make sure that that culture pervades every corner of the office.”
Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5244. Follow @ByBrianaE on Twitter.