Lance Malone Ex-city official's trial scheduled to begin Aug. 29 in Southern Nevada

Prosecutors preparing their political corruption case against Lance Malone do not believe his defense attorney has a legitimate reason to move the former Clark County commissioner's August trial out of Southern Nevada.

They rebuked attorney Dominic Gentile's argument that Malone might not receive a fair trial because media coverage of the case has been extensive.

The federal government claims it is possible to choose an unbiased jury from a community with a population of 1.7 million.

"Although media coverage has been substantial, there is no proof that it reached most of the population such that a fair and impartial jury could not be found," according to the government's response to Malone's request for a change of venue.

Gentile filed a motion last month to change the location of the trial. As an alternative, he suggested that Malone's Aug. 29 trial date be postponed to "a time when the effect of the adverse publicity will have dissipated to a point where it no longer presents a problem."

Gentile said the case has received "incessant negative publicity" since federal authorities raided Michael Galardi's strip clubs in 2003.

Shortly after the raids, Galardi and Malone, his right-hand man, along with then-Commissioners Erin Kenny, Dario Herrera and Mary Kincaid-Chauncey were indicted on bribery charges.

The indictment charged the commissioners with accepting cash payoffs from Galardi and Malone. Malone, who went to work for Galardi after he left office, is also accused of accepting bribes from the strip club owner. In return, the commissioners voted favorably on matters involving Galardi, the indictment says.

Galardi and Kenny pleaded guilty and are serving as the government's star witnesses.

A fresh wave of publicity hit in March, when Kincaid-Chauncey and Herrera went to trial. After an eight-week trial, they were convicted of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and extortion.

Gentile relied on Susan Yurcic, who operates a news clipping service called Soshona West, to support his argument.

"She opines that no event involving a criminal investigation or prosecution has exceeded the one before this court in her 19 years of experience, without including the print or 'talk show' media that have publicized it," Gentile wrote.

Gentile said he collected nearly 4,000 pages of broadcast summaries and newspaper stories related to the political corruption case.

"The pollution of the venire persons who will be chosen from the pool of potential jurors in Southern Nevada is obvious," Gentile wrote.

In the government's response, prosecutors said the news reports were largely factual.

Even if media attention has made some potential jurors aware of the case, they argued, a defendant is "entitled to an impartial jury, not one ignorant of the facts."