Courthouse counseling scheme case back on track
After months on hold, the criminal case charging defense lawyer Brian Bloomfield and four others in a courthouse counseling scheme is back on track.
District Judge Jessie Walsh Monday set a June 30 trial date.
Defense writs challenging a February 2012 superseding indictment in the high-profile case are to be argued next month.
Earlier this year, the Nevada Supreme Court overturned an order by Walsh removing the district attorney’s office from the high-profile case.
Walsh ruled in February 2012 that the district attorney’s office had a conflict of interest because a large number of its prosecutors could be considered witnesses.
Bloomfield, 37, former counseling service owner Steven Brox, 47, and juvenile probation officer Robert Chiodini, 42, were first indicted in December 2011. They were accused of providing prostitutes and other defendants with phony certificates of completion for court-ordered counseling and community service to resolve misdemeanor cases in Las Vegas Justice Court.
Later, in the superseding indictment, two new defendants were added: Bloomfield’s wife, Amber McDearmon, 29, and former bail bondsman Thomas Jaskol, 33. The expanded indictment charged Bloomfield and the new defendants with conspiring to destroy evidence.
Defense lawyers told Walsh last year they intended to call as witnesses at trial roughly 27 prosecutors who handled the Justice Court cases in which the suspicious certificates of completion turned up.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Mike Staudaher, who is prosecuting Bloomfield and company, contended the deputies had no knowledge of the courthouse scheme and no conflict existed.
Staudaher appealed Walsh’s decision to the Supreme Court.
Months later, the high court sided with Staudaher, concluding Walsh had acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in removing the district attorney’s office from the case.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Follow @JGermanRJ on Twitter.
