Judge will make sure government has a case in doctor conspiracy trial

A recent pretrial hearing in the fraud and conspiracy case against Las Vegas attorney Noel Gage was a reminder of the quirky side of U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush.

There were several moments of note as he mused aloud about what he might or might not do to streamline the complicated case, both to shorten it and to make it easier for the Las Vegas jury.

But the most vivid moment occurred when he treated Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Myhre, a very big man, as if he were a very small child.

Quackenbush was speaking when Myhre leaned to whisper something to another prosecutor at the table. Quackenbush stopped talking. He waited until Myhre stopped talking, then said coolly, "Are you done?" before resuming his own comments.

A handful of defense attorneys monitoring the hearing for their clients (other doctors and lawyers) had trouble hiding their smiles.

It’s moments like that, when he shows government prosecutors "this is my courtroom, not yours" that gives Quackenbush the reputation of being pro-defense. However, I disagree with that evaluation.

From the conversations I’ve had with a variety of people who know him, he is a fair judge who holds the government accountable. That doesn’t make him pro-defense.

The man who will try the Gage case in Las Vegas starting Feb. 19 is not well-known here because he’s a senior judge based in Spokane, Wash. Quackenbush, born in 1929, was appointed to the bench by President Carter in 1980. The judge has had senior status since 1995 and travels around taking cases where local judges have conflicts.

The word quirky is often used to describe Quackenbush because he tends to muse aloud about what’s on his mind.

For instance, early on, he admitted he had trouble understanding the government’s case. (If he can’t follow the machinations, how can jurors?) But in the Jan. 18 pretrial hearing, he said a chronology helped him understand the government’s allegations of "an unholy cabal, a doctor-lawyer conspiracy." I don’t know of many judges who would admit to initially not understanding a case.

The government contends Gage, a personal injury attorney, conspired with medical consultant Howard Awand to run up medical costs so that verdicts and settlements would be higher.

The government contends the beneficiaries were not the clients, but Awand and the doctors who referred serious personal injury cases to him and sometimes lied on the stand to help a case.

The government alleges that Gage defrauded his clients of their right to have "honest services" from their attorney.

Las Vegas attorney Richard Pocker, interim U.S. attorney for Nevada in 1989 and 1990, appeared before Quackenbush in the mid-1990s. He said Quackenbush "came to the case with an open mind. He put the government through its steps and in the end, he didn’t like the way the government treated (the client) and dismissed the charges against him."

But he and others discounted that Quackenbush favors the defense. "Before he stigmatizes someone as a criminal, he makes sure the government proves its case," Pocker said. "He’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s nothing biased about him. But he’s very much in command of things."

Along the way, he makes headlines.

In 1998 in San Francisco, he dismissed a major drug case again a supposed cocaine kingpin because U.S. Attorney Michael Yamaguchi made prejudicial comments and violated his admonition not to discuss the prosecution.

Press accounts said that the man’s attorney said Quackenbush’s actions were "brave and honest … and hopefully a message will go out to prosecutors that they have to play by the rules."

Federal authorities lost a big bankruptcy fraud conspiracy case before Quackenbush involving former Tropicana landlords Edward and Fred Doumani. Jurors acquitted them after a five-week trial in 1998.

Before the trial, the judge threw out the charges against Nicholas Tanno and Pocker’s former client Harold Gewerter (later represented by Richard Wright). It was another complex case with many facets.

If federal prosecutors lose the potentially far-reaching Gage case, it’s not likely to be because the judge is biased against the government. But if the government wins it, nobody will say Judge Quackenbush was a government pushover.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275.