Desai, nurses plead not guilty to murder charges in hepatitis C death

Dr. Dipak Desai and two nurse anesthetists pleaded not guilty Wednesday in the death of Rodolfo Meana, a victim of Southern Nevada's hepatitis C outbreak.

Desai, 62, and the two nurses, Keith Mathahs, 76, and Ronald Lakeman, 65, each face one count of second-degree murder - a felony charge that does not involve premeditation but carries a prison sentence of 10 years to life.

District Judge Stefany Miley set bail at $250,000 for Desai and $50,000 each for Mathahs and Lakeman.

Deputy marshals handcuffed all three defendants in court and were prepared to transport them to the Clark County Detention Center, but at the request of defense lawyers, Miley ordered the defendants released and gave them until 4 p.m. to post bail.

Desai has been free on $1 million bail in the previous criminal case stemming from the 2007 hepatitis outbreak. Mathahs put up $500,000 bail and Lakeman $50,000 in that case.

Miley scheduled a Sept. 19 hearing to determine a trial date on the murder charges.

An Aug. 10 murder indictment accuses all three defendants of "introducing the hepatitis C virus" into Meana's body while he underwent a colonoscopy in 2007 through "contaminated medical instruments, supplies and/or drugs."

Meana, 77, died in April from complications from hepatitis C in his native Philippines. His infection was among seven the Southern Nevada Health District genetically linked to Desai's main clinic, the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada on Shadow Lane. Health officials definitively linked two other cases to Desai's facilities and described 106 more cases as "possibly linked."

Meana and five other patients contracted hepatitis C through unsafe injection practices Sept. 21, 2007, health officials concluded. Another patient was infected July 25, 2007.

The murder case follows a 28-count indictment from June 2010 against the three defendants on an array of other criminal charges stemming from the outbreak.

They face an Oct. 22 trial before District Judge Valerie Adair on those charges, which include racketeering, patient neglect, insurance fraud and obtaining money under false pretenses.

Desai, a gastroenterologist who has since given up his medical license, performed Meana's colonoscopy and some of the medical procedures linked to infections at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada. Mathahs and Lakeman administered the sedative propofol to the infected patients under the questionable injection practices, prosecutors have alleged.

Only Mathahs injected Meana with the sedative, but prosecutors also were able to charge Lakeman in Meana's death under the theory of the murder charge, which alleges that all three defendants were part of the conspiracy that en­dangered the lives of Desai's patients.

In court Wednesday, Miley denied an effort by defense lawyers to put a hold on the murder case until the Nevada Supreme Court rules on their legal challenge of the other criminal case.

The attorneys argued that prosecutors presented essentially the same facts in both cases and that the new case could hinge on what the state Supreme Court decides.

Michael Cristalli, who represents Mathahs, said there was "no harm, no foul" in waiting for the high court to act.

He accused prosecutors of putting on a "dog and pony show" in seeking a new indictment as a result of Meana's death, rather than filing an amended indictment in the case before Adair.

But Miley sided with Chief Deputy District Attorney Mike Staudaher, who contended there was no legal basis to stay the new case.

Cristalli and Lakeman's lawyer, Rick Santacroce, were unable to dissuade Miley from ordering the additional bail for their clients.

Both argued that Mathahs and Lakeman were not flight risks and had been upstanding citizens with no criminal records until the hepatitis C investigation.

"Mr. Mathahs is fighting for his life," Cristalli told Miley, adding that his client was merely an employee who did not share in the profits from Desai's clinics.

Santacroce said Lakeman, who no longer lives in Las Vegas, had made all of his court appearances over the past two years in the other case.

Staudaher sought the additional bail, alleging Mathahs and Lakeman "engaged in practices" that led to Meana's death.

"These are the nurses that actually infected the patients," he said.

Desai's lawyer, Richard Wright, said his client has encountered financial trouble in the wake of the outbreak.

He said that his client's life has been complicated by bankruptcy proceedings and that he is now "individually bankrupt."

Wright entered the not guilty plea on Desai's behalf, telling Miley that his client does not "legally comprehend" the language of the murder indictment because of the effects of two strokes.

The first criminal case was held up last year while Desai spent six weeks under observation at the state's secure mental health hospital in Northern Nevada.

Medical experts there concluded that Desai was exaggerating his physical impairments, and earlier this year a district judge ruled that he was competent to stand trial on criminal charges.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.