Former Nye County DA Beckett hit with federal lawsuit

The troubles continue for former Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett, whose life has unraveled in a series of public embarrassments since June 2008, when he wrecked two cars in one day while allegedly driving drunk.

The latest setback for Beckett came Wednesday when he was named the key defendant in a multi-million-dollar federal civil rights lawsuit filed by sheriff's Detective David Boruchowitz, one of the people Beckett blames for his stunning fall from grace.

Boruchowitz in court papers alleges Beckett violated his due process rights last May when the detective was booked on more than two dozen counts charging that he abused his authority in arresting Beckett, and in the unrelated arrests of one sheriff's candidate and the relative of another candidate on the 2010 ballot.

Those arrests, said Beckett at the time, were politically motivated on behalf of Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo, who is in his third term and is Boruchowitz's boss.

Embattled and fighting for his political life, Beckett named Las Vegas attorney Conrad Claus a special prosecutor and Claus in a press conference just before the June primary announced the charges, including many felonies, against the detective.

Claus is also named in the lawsuit, along with Deputy District Attorney Robert Bettinger and the county itself.

Nye County, a rural county with a small tax base that is already facing a $5 million budget shortfall, will have to defend the lawsuit because Beckett was the county's attorney at the time.

Bettinger is named as a defendant because he requested a second arrest warrant for the detective after a Pahrump justice of the peace ruled Claus, by law, could not be a special prosecutor and dismissed initial charges.

In court papers, Boruchowitz alleges Bettinger apologized for seeking the warrant, saying Beckett forced his hand.

DeMeo said he was caught unawares by the filing of the lawsuit on Wednesday, but not surprised. He said neither he nor Boruchowitz would comment further.

Telephone calls to Marc Picker, the detective's Reno lawyer, and to Claus were not returned.

Boruchowitz alleges the arrest caused him substantial damages and charges the other defendants with false arrest, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation and malicious prosecution, among other things.

He seeks $1 million in general damages; $1 million in special damages; and $1 million in punitive damages from each defendant, according to court papers.

The detective surrendered and was held for about 15 minutes while being booked. As the sheriff's office spokesman he later issued a press release announcing his own arrest.

While Beckett doesn't deny he made "serious mistakes" in his personal life the last two years of his final term, he said in an interview late last year that he believes he was also the victim of political hardball -- and that Boruchowitz did the bidding of his enemies.

In November, Beckett told a reporter the detective's harassment of his family forced them to flee Pahrump, 60 miles northwest of Las Vegas, and Boruchowitz even tried to Facebook "friend" his teenage daughters in an effort to communicate with them.

In June's primary election Beckett finished fifth in his bid for re-election in a five-way race, trailing even a disgraced former judge. In January the Nevada Supreme Court suspended his law license.

His bid for a fifth term was seriously damaged when he was arrested just before the June primary and charged with 40 theft-related counts regarding irregularities with a bank account set up for the county's bad check program.

Knocked out of the race after his arrest and battling to stay in office until the end of his term, Beckett was again arrested in September on suspicion of drunk driving. That case is pending.

The theft charges were dismissed in January after Beckett pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor obstruction charge.

Contact Doug McMurdo at dmcmurdo@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512.