Clark County audit finds DA witness payment account needs oversight

A Clark County audit is recommending the district attorney's office rein in a decades-old, off-budget checking account it operated with few rules and used primarily on its witnesses.

The audit, dated Sept. 4, urged the district attorney's office to create policies for the checking account amid concern that it has almost no oversight or guidelines and that backup documentation and proof that payments had been authorized were missing.

Additionally, the audit noted that the office only kept documents dating back to 2008. As major criminal cases may require documents to be kept for longer, the audit recommended the district attorney's office make the witness payments documents part of corresponding case files.

Clark County spokesman Erik Pappa said county management asked for the audit in August 2014, after a Review-Journal investigation found prosecutors used the account to pay witnesses' rent — sometimes for amounts over $1,000. Defense attorneys said the news was shocking and, following their outrage, District Attorney Steve Wolfson changed his office's policies to disclose these types of payments.

The audit included a response from the district attorney's office.

Covering witnesses' expenses may not have been widely known because it had only been done in a limited number of cases, the statement stressed. The account was no secret, the DA's office said, because the practice of paying witnesses' rent had been discussed in public meetings.

"With regards to the disclosure of financial assistance on behalf of victims to criminal defendants, the District Attorney's Office is, and always has been, committed to complying with our discovery obligations and to ensuring that we secure legally sound convictions," the statement said.

The district attorney's office also cited two cases in which the issue had been brought up in court.

Some cases have gone back to court following reporting on the checking account, though a defendant has yet to successfully appeal using the issue.

Payments went to office items not for witnesses

The audit also found the office spent $8,872 of the fund on operational items, such as trophies, business cards, decor and other items for the waiting area for victims and witnesses.

"While the amount of funds in the account is relatively low compared to the overall budget of the District Attorney's Office, any loss of funds could jeopardize the ability of victim witness program to provide funds when needed," the report says. "Items such as the same person writing and signing the check as the payee and no documented approval create an opportunity for theft or abuse of the funds."

The district attorney's annual budget is $42.7 million.

The audit determined the account was established in February 1989 for the purpose of "for the benefit of victims and witnesses of crimes." The audit analyzed documents dating back to January 2008 and found a total of 80 checks from the account were written, with 31 relating to cases and 49 going to supplies and other items.

As of May 31 the account's balance was $82,585 — the audit notes the district attorney's office stopped making payments out of the account on Feb. 28.

The account was funded through unclaimed restitution and donations, according to the audit.

Not the first audit

This is the second time in two years the county has audited the way the district attorney's office spends money on witnesses.

Wolfson himself asked the county for an audit of his office's witness payments voucher program — which is budgeted — after it came to light that his office kept shoddy records of vouchers used to pay court fees, travel expenses, mileage and meals. That audit was completed in May 2014 and came with recommendations to add controls to those funds.

The audit request followed an October 2013 trial. Defense attorneys Dan Bunin and Dayvid Figler asked to see documents of all payments to witnesses, having taken issue in the past with prosecutors' interpretation of the law in regard to witness compensation. Prosecutors said during trial it would be impossible to produce the records as the majority had been destroyed. In reality, the records were on file at the county.

At that time, Wolfson also ended the controversial practice of paying witnesses to meet with prosecutors.

Defense attorneys had contested the legality of the issue since discovering in 2009 that prosecutors were interpreting a state law that allows witnesses to be compensated for appearing in court to extend to their offices.

At that time, a prosecution witness in a different case told Bunin and Figler that she had lied to finance her crack cocaine addiction. She got $25 for showing up and another $25 for a taxi ride she said she didn't take.

After media reported on that case, Terry Johnson, director of administration for the office emailed then-District Attorney David Roger saying that if reporters looked into how much officers were paid — which he noted "are no small sums incidentally" — it could give the story "legs."

The Review-Journal reported in July that emails show Johnson did an internal review of budgeted witness payment practices following that exchange and found the office wasted about $300,000 a year on witnesses, due in large part to a practice of paying officers who were already on the clock.

Johnson, who is now on the Nevada Gaming Control Board, told the Review-Journal he was never told the district attorney's office had an off-budget account used for witnesses payments. He said he should have been informed about the account as his examination of the budgeted payments found waste and put the office in compliance with state law.

Contact Bethany Barnes at bbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Find her on Twitter: @betsbarnes