Defense asks to move HOA trial because of news coverage
Defense lawyers argued in federal court Monday to move the homeowners association corruption trial out of Las Vegas because of extensive “prejudicial” news coverage by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The lawyers, who represent former construction company boss Leon Benzer and attorney Keith Gregory, argued the newspaper’s articles have “utterly corrupted” the trial atmosphere, making it impossible for the defendants to get a fair shake from a jury.
They said that since January 2011, a total of 146 articles, mostly from the Review-Journal, have been written about the long-running federal HOA investigation, and the “battery” of harmful stories will only increase as the February trial nears.
Federal prosecutors responded that the news articles were not prejudicial and any defense concerns can be eased by questioning potential jurors during the selection process at trial about their exposure to the media coverage.
U.S. Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr. told both sides he would issue a written decision by the end of the year.
Defense lawyers also argued to dismiss the criminal fraud case because of government misconduct they claimed allowed the Review-Journal to publish a story Oct 30. revealing details of failed plea negotiations between prosecutors and Benzer.
The article, which contained information Benzer provided investigators during secret talks in 2011, was based on government reports the newspaper obtained from the electronic court docket while they were public for two days in September.
The reports have since been sealed and stricken from the court record. They disclose how Benzer allegedly corrupted HOA boards through bribery and election rigging to obtain millions of dollars in construction defect contracts.
In court Monday, Benzer’s lawyer, Daniel Albregts, said he was still looking into how the Review-Journal obtained the reports.
Albregts filed a motion under seal last week asking Foley to authorize a subpoena for the Review-Journal’s billing records to determine whether the newspaper got the reports from the electronic court document. But Review-Journal lawyer Maggie McLetchie filed court papers opposing the move, and Foley denied Albregts’ request.
Foley said Albregts could refile the motion publicly with notice to both the government and the Reviews-Journal, but as of Monday afternoon he had not done that.
Defense lawyers have previously suggested in court papers that the newspaper got the reports from the government.
But on Monday, prosecutors said they did not provide the reports.
“We’re not interested in trying this case in the Las Vegas Review-Journal,” Justice Department lawyer Thomas Hall said. “We’re not interested in leaking documents to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.”
Benzer, Gregory and four other defendants are to stand trial Feb. 23 on conspiracy and fraud charges stemming from the HOA investigation launched by the FBI and Las Vegas police in 2007.
Since 2011, 36 defendants have pleaded guilty in the scheme to take over HOAs across the valley.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Follow @JGermanRJ on Twitter.