Judge denies cocaine use claims

RENO -- A Washoe County judge running for re-election against a county prosecutor says District Attorney Richard Gammick made false claims in an e-mail that the judge had used cocaine.

Judge Robert Perry responded with his own widely circulated message saying he was not surprised that Gammick would "launch a personal attack to generate free press coverage" of an incident that happened almost 25 years ago. Perry said Gammick's statements were designed to hide his opponent's lack of experience and qualifications.

Perry is opposed by Deputy District Attorney Elliott Sattler, who works for Gammick.

The candidates have attacked each other's records on criminal cases, accusing each other of being soft on crime.

Perry was backed Thursday by Lee Rowland of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, who said Gammick's actions were "outrageous and highly inappropriate" because of their partisan nature. Rowland said Gammick apparently relies on the type of reports that public defenders could only get for their own clients with a court order.

In the e-mail addressed to Perry but sent to hundreds, Gammick said Perry was wrong when he told an interviewer he was not prosecuted for using drugs because of a lack of evidence.

"That statement is misleading, since I have in my possession reports from two separate laboratories stating you had cocaine metabolites in your system, which establishes the fact that you had ingested cocaine," Gammick said.

The problem was, Gammick said in his e-mail, he couldn't prove that Perry used the cocaine in Washoe County.

Perry said he was "amazed" that Sattler circulated the story "about a party I attended very briefly nearly a quarter of a century ago."

The judge disputed Gammick's claims, saying in an e-mail, "I do not recall ever having seen the test results you mention. But I do recall being told by you, or someone from the state at the time, that the results were equivocal and that the fact that I had just had spinal surgery and was heavily medicated with prescription narcotics and analgesics explained the issue."

Gammick told the Reno Gazette-Journal that didn't explain the test results.

"They don't medicate people with cocaine. Cocaine is cocaine is cocaine. The tests show cocaine," Gammick said.

Perry also challenged Gammick's jurisdiction claim, saying it "is graphic proof of the lack of credibility of this entire attack."

Perry said a conviction for being under the influence of a controlled substance does not require proof of where the drug was used, only that the person was under the influence in Washoe County, where the urine sample was taken.

The judge said he has a police report showing the "supposed informant" told officials Perry arrived after the drugs were used, "and that he specifically did not identify me as having used them."

Perry said his fingerprints were not found on paraphernalia used to ingest the drugs.

"If you really believed I was guilty, you had an obligation to bring charges, and everyone knows you would have," Perry said in his e-mail to Gammick. "You declined to do so a quarter of a century ago when the credibility of the charge could be tested in court, but now unfairly bring it up when most of the evidence and witnesses are gone."