Telles investigated in alleged kickback scheme involving house flipping. [RJ]
Prosecutors, public defenders, and private attorneys share judicial victories. Congrats to all the winners and thanks to everyone who ran. [Nevada Current]
Drama in Henderson as the police union votes no confidence in police chief and city council takes no action. [RJ]
From the comments, Doug Smith stipulated to being barred from serving in judicial office in the future. [NVcourts]
The State Bar of Nevada seeks comments from its members regarding whether a Nevada attorney may require a client to sign a non-disclosure agreement–raising all sorts of questions about the “hypothetical’ this question is based on. What do you think? Is the draft opinion right? [@nevadabar]
But those attorneys and realtors who were allegedly in on it with him should firm up their stools because the authorities are going to dig deep and take down everyone associated with Telles.
1:46 is obviously right that Telles at this point presumably doesn't care that much, and has much, much bigger fish to fry.
But 2:10 is right that there are people(not facing murder charges) who need to be very, very concerned.
And 2:15 likewise has a valid point that even though Telles could not realistically receive much of a sentencing reduction for a crime of this magnitude merely by proving names and info of others in on the scheme, that ANY sort of consideration that can at all alleviate his dreadful plight(facing a potential, or even likely, life sentence) may cause him to tell everything he knows about this whole scheme, and who was involved.
@2:10 & @3:13 are absolutely right. The Probate mafia is coming to light. Now we watch the roaches scatter. Telles is going to sing like a bird to save his neck. Likely the only reason they are not pursuing death penalty.
In Nevada, 15 aggravating factors can make a defendant eligible for the death penalty. The factors include: if the defendant has been convicted of another murder or violent crime; if the killing happened while the defendant was attempting a robbery, burglary, or home invasion; if the killing was random; or if the killing involved torture or mutilation.
“The lead attorney on the Telles case, Pamela Weckerly, believed that there was no aggravating circumstance to make this case available to be submitted to the death penalty review committee,” Wolfson said Wednesday, adding that he concurred with Weckerly’s opinion.
3:46-It was always pretty apparent that it would be difficult to find much in the way of aggravating and/or enhancement factors. Yes, the victim was 69, but it was always clear that this was a targeted revenge killing directed at an isolated person, but there was no mutilation or torture per se, no multiple victims no independent simultaneous felony, etc.
And from a practical stand point, even if Telles, now 45, received the death penalty, the net effect of it would be that millions would be spent on legal proceedings over the ensuing decades and he would still be sitting on death row when his 77th birthday comes around.
Now, several of these posts raise an interesting issue as to whether he'd receive any meaningful relief if he were to cooperate with this probate/house flipping investigation.
On one level, the answer would appear to be "No", and that he will effectively spend all, or most, of his remaining life in prison if convicted.
On the other hand, he could live into his 80's or beyond(perhaps that's not too likely when one is in prison) so if you dangle before him that he could conceivably be released while he is still in his 60's, that could actually mean something to him once he has really had time to reflect on what a life sentence without the possibility truly means.
Plus, he may figure why shouldn't he throw these other people to the wolves, and he may in fact blame them in part for why the Jeff German investigations even commenced.
On that note, it's interesting that German, rather than discovering and developing this house flipping/corruption angle, instead developed the angle of hostile work environment/relationship with subordinate employee angle.
Had he been able to discover the whole house flipping/public corruption angle, I find that to be far more relevant and of much greater magnitude than the supposed hostile work environment./preferential treatment to a favored employee angle.
4:12-I'd have to review German's stories, but I believe you may be right that they did not include this probate/house flipping controversy or scandal.
Something of that magnitude and intricacy is usually so skillfully and covertly conducted that it is usually not uncovered by an investigative journalist, but is usually uncovered through sophisticated operations of governmental agencies.
It wasn't always that way though, as Watergate was a scandal largely uncovered by relentless journalists, and afterwards the government agencies took over.
German was alerted to the hostile work environment angle, and the issue of the affair, and presumably wasn't looking at any house flipping scandal, and presumably no one put him on the trail of anything like that.
At least that is the extent of my understanding on these matters.
4:12, true that such was not German's focus, but since his murder the lvrj has analyzed 90 transactions dating back to 2019.
So, if this leads to successful prosecutions, the government does not deserve all the credit, as it may be the journalistic investigative work that made it all possible.
Sadly,there will never be a shortage of greedy unethical realtors, as well as greedy unethical attorneys, who can be successfully recruited for something like this.
Now, if these allegations are accurate, after Telles, early on, approached that one realtor who was highly offended and outraged at the proposition, Telles should have assumed that the realtor might contact the authorities. That would have been the time to shut it all down and take no further risks.
Is no one ready to talk about 349's comment? BK Trustees (and to a lesser extent, court appointed receivers) are among the most corrupt, self dealing folks in existence.
3:49 and 6:32 comments, on BK Trustees, just like others (including attorneys, politicians and people), there are good and bad. For my part, I have appeared in front of several trustees who are professional and work well to support the system. If you have a problem with a BK Trustee, Receiver or someone else, then name them or complain about them through a process. You can't create change by remaining silent.
349here
To be fair, most of the current Trustees are pretty good. Weinstein was the worst at it and should've gone to prison. I know people who served major time for less than she did every day.
I don't see Weinstein as a trustee any more; however using my research capability, I discovered that several current bankruptcy trustees helped start a bankruptcy pro bono program; then i found a case on line at the bankruptcy court (case number 19-11968 – search unpublished decisions) in which a Trustee caught an attorney's office who was forging their client's name on petitions and schedules and your judge Nakagawa issued a decision disgorging fees against the firm. So again, there may be some bad ones but looks like you have some good ones. If you give me some names or other cases, this may be an interesting story.
Debtor Bankruptcy Attorney Here – Just read that decision. It did not surprise me to see the name of that particular Trustee trying to assist the system and not surprised to see the name of that law firm who was sanctioned.
Shady AF….and, unfortunately, not at all uncommon.
Guest
Anonymous
November 16, 2022 7:38 pm
It would never cross my mind to ask a client to sign an NDA. I would think most clients would balk at this anyway, unless it was buried in boiler plate, which is a problem in and of itself.
Guest
Anonymous
November 16, 2022 7:48 pm
I think the opinion is good. Attorneys are prohibited from doing lots of things with clients, as pointed out in the opinion, and this is just one more thing.
I can't see any benefit to a client signing an NDA.
Guest
Anonymous
November 16, 2022 8:02 pm
re: NDA
I guess i missed something. In what circumstances would a client NDA be sought? What is being protected?
@12:02p – I've never asked a client to sign an NDA, however there are a few attorneys in town I personally know that, when a client posts a negative review on Google, the attorney will contact the client, agree to pay them some money in exchange for them removing the negative review and require them to sign an NDA that they won't disclose that transaction or any other negative reviews or online comments about their interaction with the attorney past or present.
The opinion addresses a client being required to sign a NDA to get legal advice. Signing a NDA based upon a review you get paid to take down is not the same. The client is being paid to remove the review and not disparage the attorney based upon the payment. It has nothing to do with legal advice.
Guest
Anonymous
November 16, 2022 9:45 pm
Without getting into the weeds of it, I think the opinion is wrong. Clients have no obligation to use any certain attorney and if that attorney wants to include an NDA, that is a perfectly acceptable contract term that a client can accept or reject.
A client comes to an attorney seeking legal advice. Once provided, whose legal advice is it? Does the attorney retain any discernible interest in the legal advice given to the client? It's black letter law that the client's ability to choose his or her attorney is sacrosanct. If an NDA is imposed, doesn't that unreasonably restrict the ability of the client to select the attorney?
@1:45 – should an attorney also be able to require a client waive any malpractice claim?
In any other context it's a "perfectly acceptable contract term that a client can accept or reject."
Guest
Anonymous
November 17, 2022 12:12 am
“In Brooklyn, she’d get a beating,” said Fiore about Tarkanian’s efforts to elect Democrats, including incumbents Attorney General Aaron Ford and Treasurer Zach Conine, who defeated Fiore 48 percent to 46 percent in the general election. “But here, we have a couple of other rules, so we can’t break her fingers, you know what I mean,” she said.
Hilarious that Fiore, accused of literally beating up another member of the City Council, would make statements about when beatdowns are likely to occur.
I guess that answers the "indigent" question.
#TellesIsTheGiftThatKeepsOnGiving
He is facing the very realistic prospect(some would say very likely prospect) of spending most of the rest of his life in a cage for murder.
Thus, I doubt he is panicking too much about some "investigation" about house flipping.
But if he is in fact panicking about it, someone needs to give him a dose in realism and a sense of priorities.
But those attorneys and realtors who were allegedly in on it with him should firm up their stools because the authorities are going to dig deep and take down everyone associated with Telles.
Especially, if he tries to curry favor at sentencing. He wont "STFU". Guaranteed!
1:46 is obviously right that Telles at this point presumably doesn't care that much, and has much, much bigger fish to fry.
But 2:10 is right that there are people(not facing murder charges) who need to be very, very concerned.
And 2:15 likewise has a valid point that even though Telles could not realistically receive much of a sentencing reduction for a crime of this magnitude merely by proving names and info of others in on the scheme, that ANY sort of consideration that can at all alleviate his dreadful plight(facing a potential, or even likely, life sentence) may cause him to tell everything he knows about this whole scheme, and who was involved.
@2:10 & @3:13 are absolutely right. The Probate mafia is coming to light. Now we watch the roaches scatter. Telles is going to sing like a bird to save his neck. Likely the only reason they are not pursuing death penalty.
In Nevada, 15 aggravating factors can make a defendant eligible for the death penalty. The factors include: if the defendant has been convicted of another murder or violent crime; if the killing happened while the defendant was attempting a robbery, burglary, or home invasion; if the killing was random; or if the killing involved torture or mutilation.
“The lead attorney on the Telles case, Pamela Weckerly, believed that there was no aggravating circumstance to make this case available to be submitted to the death penalty review committee,” Wolfson said Wednesday, adding that he concurred with Weckerly’s opinion.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/prosecutors-will-not-seek-capital-punishment-for-robert-telles-2664898/
BK trustees next?
3:46-It was always pretty apparent that it would be difficult to find much in the way of aggravating and/or enhancement factors. Yes, the victim was 69, but it was always clear that this was a targeted revenge killing directed at an isolated person, but there was no mutilation or torture per se, no multiple victims no independent simultaneous felony, etc.
And from a practical stand point, even if Telles, now 45, received the death penalty, the net effect of it would be that millions would be spent on legal proceedings over the ensuing decades and he would still be sitting on death row when his 77th birthday comes around.
Now, several of these posts raise an interesting issue as to whether he'd receive any meaningful relief if he were to cooperate with this probate/house flipping investigation.
On one level, the answer would appear to be "No", and that he will effectively spend all, or most, of his remaining life in prison if convicted.
On the other hand, he could live into his 80's or beyond(perhaps that's not too likely when one is in prison) so if you dangle before him that he could conceivably be released while he is still in his 60's, that could actually mean something to him once he has really had time to reflect on what a life sentence without the possibility truly means.
Plus, he may figure why shouldn't he throw these other people to the wolves, and he may in fact blame them in part for why the Jeff German investigations even commenced.
On that note, it's interesting that German, rather than discovering and developing this house flipping/corruption angle, instead developed the angle of hostile work environment/relationship with subordinate employee angle.
Had he been able to discover the whole house flipping/public corruption angle, I find that to be far more relevant and of much greater magnitude than the supposed hostile work environment./preferential treatment to a favored employee angle.
4:12-I'd have to review German's stories, but I believe you may be right that they did not include this probate/house flipping controversy or scandal.
Something of that magnitude and intricacy is usually so skillfully and covertly conducted that it is usually not uncovered by an investigative journalist, but is usually uncovered through sophisticated operations of governmental agencies.
It wasn't always that way though, as Watergate was a scandal largely uncovered by relentless journalists, and afterwards the government agencies took over.
German was alerted to the hostile work environment angle, and the issue of the affair, and presumably wasn't looking at any house flipping scandal, and presumably no one put him on the trail of anything like that.
At least that is the extent of my understanding on these matters.
I'm not sure I agree with all of what 4:12 offers, but I do agree that Telles may not have to be offered much to be induced to cooperate fully.
And I doubt he's losing much sleep over this house flipping investigation as he is facing something 10,000 more serious.
2:10 has let us know about the people who should panic to the point that solid bowel movements become problematic.
4:12, true that such was not German's focus, but since his murder the lvrj has analyzed 90 transactions dating back to 2019.
So, if this leads to successful prosecutions, the government does not deserve all the credit, as it may be the journalistic investigative work that made it all possible.
Sadly,there will never be a shortage of greedy unethical realtors, as well as greedy unethical attorneys, who can be successfully recruited for something like this.
Now, if these allegations are accurate, after Telles, early on, approached that one realtor who was highly offended and outraged at the proposition, Telles should have assumed that the realtor might contact the authorities. That would have been the time to shut it all down and take no further risks.
Is no one ready to talk about 349's comment? BK Trustees (and to a lesser extent, court appointed receivers) are among the most corrupt, self dealing folks in existence.
3:49 and 6:32 comments, on BK Trustees, just like others (including attorneys, politicians and people), there are good and bad. For my part, I have appeared in front of several trustees who are professional and work well to support the system. If you have a problem with a BK Trustee, Receiver or someone else, then name them or complain about them through a process. You can't create change by remaining silent.
11-19593-MKN if the LVRJ is interested in a BK Trustee example.
Interesting case, but Rosenberg is no longer a bankruptcy trustee. What else do you have?
349here
To be fair, most of the current Trustees are pretty good. Weinstein was the worst at it and should've gone to prison. I know people who served major time for less than she did every day.
I don't see Weinstein as a trustee any more; however using my research capability, I discovered that several current bankruptcy trustees helped start a bankruptcy pro bono program; then i found a case on line at the bankruptcy court (case number 19-11968 – search unpublished decisions) in which a Trustee caught an attorney's office who was forging their client's name on petitions and schedules and your judge Nakagawa issued a decision disgorging fees against the firm. So again, there may be some bad ones but looks like you have some good ones. If you give me some names or other cases, this may be an interesting story.
That is why I said "Weinstein was" and also pointed out that most of the current trustees are pretty good.
I get it. Words are hard.
Debtor Bankruptcy Attorney Here – Just read that decision. It did not surprise me to see the name of that particular Trustee trying to assist the system and not surprised to see the name of that law firm who was sanctioned.
Shady AF….and, unfortunately, not at all uncommon.
It would never cross my mind to ask a client to sign an NDA. I would think most clients would balk at this anyway, unless it was buried in boiler plate, which is a problem in and of itself.
I think the opinion is good. Attorneys are prohibited from doing lots of things with clients, as pointed out in the opinion, and this is just one more thing.
I can't see any benefit to a client signing an NDA.
re: NDA
I guess i missed something. In what circumstances would a client NDA be sought? What is being protected?
@12:02p – I've never asked a client to sign an NDA, however there are a few attorneys in town I personally know that, when a client posts a negative review on Google, the attorney will contact the client, agree to pay them some money in exchange for them removing the negative review and require them to sign an NDA that they won't disclose that transaction or any other negative reviews or online comments about their interaction with the attorney past or present.
Let me guess-PI attorneys? Then they wonder why the Bar goes after them instead of large firms…
The opinion addresses a client being required to sign a NDA to get legal advice. Signing a NDA based upon a review you get paid to take down is not the same. The client is being paid to remove the review and not disparage the attorney based upon the payment. It has nothing to do with legal advice.
Without getting into the weeds of it, I think the opinion is wrong. Clients have no obligation to use any certain attorney and if that attorney wants to include an NDA, that is a perfectly acceptable contract term that a client can accept or reject.
A client comes to an attorney seeking legal advice. Once provided, whose legal advice is it? Does the attorney retain any discernible interest in the legal advice given to the client? It's black letter law that the client's ability to choose his or her attorney is sacrosanct. If an NDA is imposed, doesn't that unreasonably restrict the ability of the client to select the attorney?
@1:45 – should an attorney also be able to require a client waive any malpractice claim?
In any other context it's a "perfectly acceptable contract term that a client can accept or reject."
“In Brooklyn, she’d get a beating,” said Fiore about Tarkanian’s efforts to elect Democrats, including incumbents Attorney General Aaron Ford and Treasurer Zach Conine, who defeated Fiore 48 percent to 46 percent in the general election. “But here, we have a couple of other rules, so we can’t break her fingers, you know what I mean,” she said.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/michele-fiore-after-election-loss-rants-against-tarkanian-2677779/
Hilarious that Fiore, accused of literally beating up another member of the City Council, would make statements about when beatdowns are likely to occur.
Just another coastal elite who thinks the way they do things in New York is better than our lifestyle out here in the real America.
>accused of literally beating up another member of the City Council, would make statements about when beatdowns are likely to occur
Even more specifically, accused of *literally breaking someone else's finger*, and then jokes about not being able to break someone's finger.
She's just a mess.
Her defense lawyer punching the air rn.
Yes, jokes. Did you think she was serious?
https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/10000-demand-threats-lead-to-extortion-charges-in-dispute-over-las-vegas-estate/
That was a wild ride.