Dry Spell

  • Law

  • OJ Simpson, via his attorney Malcolm LaVergne, is threatening to sue the Cosmopolitan for $100 million. [Las Vegas Sun]
  • Carson City Judge James Russell blocked an anti-sanctuary city ballot measure. [RGJ]
  • The AG’s office took two years to file charges against NDOT workers in a theft ring. [RJ]
  • Today we may find out the future of the Cliven Bundy case. [Las Vegas Sun]
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 6:24 pm

Bundy + two: Case dismissed. I imagine Jerry DeLemus is absolutely livid today.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 6:27 pm

I'm pissed that the Bundy's are getting away with what they did. Totally unacceptable. Whomever screwed this up at the USAO must be fired.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 7:20 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Agreed. Seems like such an obvious case. How they managed to lose this one is beyond me.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 7:20 pm

Get pissed at the USAO. Get pissed at Myrhe. Get pissed that there are so many other cases in which Defendants have had their rights trampled by the USAO that never got this level of attention. There is taint on every single case ever prosecuted by Myrhe.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 7:43 pm

Conspiracy theorists . . . are we certain "incompetence" is allowing the Bundys to get away with this? Would such "incompetence" affect protesters of different stripes?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 7:45 pm

So what did the Bundys actually do? Didn't the BLM people just get scared of the crowd and leave. Were any shots fired?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 7:48 pm

11:20 is spot on. It took 2 full trials for this to come out, in an already high profile case. I hope this serves as a wake up call to this USAO, because as an office, they have little to no regard for the rules or the rights of the accused, perhaps with a few prosecutors serving as exceptions. Which really doesn't matter when management gets the final say, and they are the problem.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 7:51 pm

Bundy owes millions in BLM land use fees to the federal government. It was the attempted seizure of illegally grazing livestock by the feds that caused the standoff. What I don't understand is why the feds are screwing around with the criminal case when it could be making Bundy's life a living hell through a collection action.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 8:18 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

What do you think the cattle round-up was?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 8:01 pm

This is the same USAO that nabbed only the smallest of fry in the Medical Mafia scandal of yore.

This is the same USAO that took so long to get its act together on the Benzer CD scam case that Nancy Quon finally managed to successfully check out before they could prosecute her.

I am incredibly disappointed, but not even remotely surprised, that the USAO managed to fail here, too.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 9:08 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

The same USAO who should investigate Dave Thomas.

anonymous
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anonymous
January 9, 2018 12:08 am
Reply to  Anonymous

This little stroll down memory lane caused me to look up Howard Awand on the Bureau of Prisons website. He was released in 2014. Wonder what has become of him.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 9, 2018 12:28 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Awand took the fall for some very very wealthy Las Vegas personal injury lawyers. He held his lips tight. It does not stretch the imagination to think he's somehow, somewhere being well cared for.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 9, 2018 12:33 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Remember, the Vegas USAO is what spawned Eric Johnson.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 9, 2018 5:16 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Awand is not being taken care of; Awand is persona non grata to those who he protected. But Awand is living just fine.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 8:55 pm

This is much worse than Oregon because this was not a "failure" by the USAO. They didn't take it to trial and just not do a good enough job. That would be negligence. This was a finding of "flagrant prosecutorial misconduct" by a Judge that was basically in the prosecution's pocket all the way up until the time of trial. These prosecutors didn't do a sloppy job; they flagrantly violated defendant rights (no matter how repugnant one may personally find those defendants).

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 9:32 pm

Elana Lee Graham filed for Justice Court dept. 1.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 9, 2018 12:09 am
Reply to  Anonymous

That's Boyd '10, DA Elana Graham, not State Bar BoG Elana Graham.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 9, 2018 12:19 am
Reply to  Anonymous

So that is Baby Graham in blog parlance?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 10:02 pm

If the casino trespassed OJ, I doubt it is on account of malice or racial prejudice. They may simply not want OJ on their premises, and if he did act drunk or disorderly they used that as a pretext to exclude him.

I believe it is absurd, this day and age, to suggest that the hotel trespassed someone simply for being black. As we sit here now, there are probably dozens of black individuals gaming, eating or working on such premises.

So, if they don't want him there because he is OJ, and this is compounded by the fact he is drunk and disorderly, OJ's attorneys know that people will not view such decision(to exclude him) as being too outrageous(or even unreasonable) so they throw in that he was mainly excluded because of his race(which I don't think any sane person would believe).

It all sounds like poppycock to me. But on the (seemingly) remote chance there is any legitimacy to any of this, and he actually recovers a settlement or verdict at some point, would he actually get to keep any of it?

The Goldman's civil judgment was for like 33 million dollars or more. OJ's NFL pension is excluded from collection methods, but almost any other form of income is fair game. Wouldn't any settlement or verdict against this casino also be subject to being seized by the Goodmans, even if it is established(which is a little hard to imagine) that OJ is the victim of intentional torts by the casino?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 10:08 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I basically agree with what you wrote, but don't assume any lawsuit will take place.

If someone really was excluded based on their race, that would be quite outrageous and could result in runaway punitives.But if someone is excluded because they are viewed as an unsavory celebrity and a distracting presence,as well as being loud and inebriated, even if such exclusion is found to be wrongful or at least questionable, no one would award much compensation for something like that. And this is true if we remove the part about being disruptive or drunk. If they merely excluded him because they don't want OJ on their premises, if that claim has any value, it is a microscopic percentage that the case would have if someone was actually excluded on account of their race.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 10:09 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

If possible,please let's not give this topic, or the individual in question, any further thought or discussion.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 10:13 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Why? The sheer audacity of releasing a demand letter to the media for a ludicrous $100 million is hilarious. There is no way in a 100 million years that someone, let alone this duo, are going to get that amount of the Cosmopolitan. I wish I was defense counsel for Cosmo on this one and I would have a field day with it.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 10:23 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

I believe that all three of the above, 2:02, 2:08 and 2:09, are suggesting that he won't get one cent of it, and that the whole thing is bogus.

So, people like him, once they can no longer generate any money, will do anything to generate attention. So, let's give him as little as possible, once, of course, we address the news item of their demand, and dismiss it as a utterly ludicrous(which you just rightfully did).

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 10:26 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

Malcolm LaVergne is the Jackie Chiles of Las Vegas law.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 8, 2018 11:58 pm
Reply to  Anonymous

And what are the chances that either of them would or could finance a $100M lawsuit against COSMO/MGM?

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 9, 2018 12:16 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Walk around the Cosmo any day or night, you'll see plenty of customers of color. That tells me OJ's skin color wasn't the reason he was trespassed.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 9, 2018 12:21 am
Reply to  Anonymous

If Paul Padda can hit the Cosmo, Lavergne apparently thinks anyone can hit the Cosmo.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 9, 2018 2:24 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Padda had Panish's firm handling the case and a hedge fund manager making $11 million a year with a TBI which has to be disclosed in all SEC filings so the guy could no longer work. Look up Panish and you will understand the verdict. However, he is no Malcolm.

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 9, 2018 12:29 am

Since when does MGM own COSMO? lol

Anonymous
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Anonymous
January 9, 2018 12:37 am
Reply to  Anonymous

Sorry, my mistake….Blackstone owns the Cosmo.

My question remains: And what are the chances that either of them would or could finance a $100M lawsuit?