Prosecutors amend Desai indictment
Clark County prosecutors filed an amended indictment Tuesday that removed the racketeering charge against Dr. Dipak Desai and two nurse anesthetists in the hepatitis C outbreak.
The 29-count indictment, filed before District Judge Valerie Adair, complied with a December Nevada Supreme Court order to toss out the charge.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Mike Staudaher, lead prosecutor in the case, said the amended indictment addressed the high court’s order to clear up language in other charges that allege criminal neglect and mistreatment of seven patients infected with the deadly hepatitis virus at Desai’s clinic in 2007.
After more than two years of delays, Desai, 63, and nurse anesthetist Ronald Lakeman, 65, are to stand trial before Adair on April 22.
The other nurse charged in the case, Keith Mathahs, 76, pleaded guilty in December and agreed to testify against the other two defendants.
In ordering Adair to grant a defense writ challenging the sufficiency of the racketeering count, the Supreme Court panel wrote, “We conclude that extraordinary relief is warranted because the challenged allegations are not sufficiently plain, concise and definite.”
The panel said the racketeering count, which alleges the defendants carried on a pattern of criminal activity that led to the hepatitis infections, was “inadequately pleaded” and failed to allege the essential elements of the criminal activity.
Desai’s lawyers argued the language was so vague it violated his constitutional due process rights and made it difficult to mount any kind of meaningful defense.
The high court’s opinion didn’t affect a series of other charges against Desai and Lakeman, including second-degree murder, theft, insurance fraud and obtaining money under false pretenses.