Former Clark County prosecutor suspended from practicing law
CARSON CITY – The former Clark County prosecutor who handled high-profile celebrity drug cases involving Paris Hilton and Bruno Mars was temporarily suspended Thursday from practicing law in Nevada.
State Supreme Court justices ruled 7-0 that David Schubert, a former deputy district attorney, should be suspended because he pleaded guilty last year to buying $40 worth of rock cocaine.
He was arrested in March 2011 by Las Vegas police. A man with Schubert said he furnished the lawyer with cocaine several times a week.
Although Schubert received a nine-month jail sentence, he remains free as he challenges the sentence. The Supreme Court said Schubert committed a “serious crime” and, therefore, should be suspended.
Justices said the case will be referred to the State Bar of Nevada’s Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board, which will determine the “extent of discipline” to be imposed against Schubert. They said that Schubert did not contact the board as required last year after pleading guilty to felony drug charges.
Schubert quit his job with the district attorney’s office after his arrest. At his February sentencing, Clark County District Judge Carolyn Ellsworth called him “a disgrace to his oath as a prosecutor and a lawyer.”
The 10-year prosecutor handled Hilton’s case after she was arrested in August 2010 when 0.8 grams of cocaine fell out of her handbag when the vehicle she was traveling in was stopped on the Strip. She received a year of probation on misdemeanor cocaine charges.
Schubert also prosecuted Grammy-winning pop singer and songwriter Bruno Mars, who was arrested in a 2010 drug bust at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Mars pleaded guilty to felony cocaine possession and the case against him was dismissed in January after the singer fulfilled all of his sentencing obligations, including performing more than 200 hours of community service.
Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900.
