Evidence against Vegas cop accused of assaulting prostitute to be shown to defense

Defense lawyers in a federal firearms case will get to see evidence Las Vegas police have against an embattled detective charged with assaulting and robbing a prostitute.

Police had fought to keep the evidence secret, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Koppe said in court late Monday that a statement to police by Detective Michael Kitchen should be turned over because it is relevant to his credibility as a witness in the gun case.

Lawyers for the federal defendant, Richard Ward, are pushing to get evidence seized through a search warrant prepared by Kitchen quashed over due process violations. Kitchen, a 15-year department veteran, was accused of assault just hours after he testified against Ward in federal court.

Koppe said she is considering turning over more evidence police gathered against Kitchen to the defense and will issue a written ruling later this week. The additional evidence includes an analysis of Kitchen’s cell phone records.

The defense suspects the records will show that even before he testified against Ward, Kitchen was making plans to see the prostitute — effectively planning to commit a crime.

Assistant Federal Public Defender William Carrico, who represents Ward, had asked Koppe to privately review police reports of both the internal and criminal investigations of Kitchen and then provide relevant information to the defense.

Police department lawyers, however, filed court papers arguing against giving any of the evidence to the defense on several grounds, including that the reports contain sensitive information about undercover activities of Kitchen and other detectives. The lawyers also contended that investigations of Kitchen are ongoing and could be jeopardized.

Ward faces a felony charge of possessing an unregistered rifle with a silencer that was seized at his home based on a search warrant Kitchen obtained following a police response to a disturbance call there.

Kitchen and other Las Vegas detectives assigned to the joint local-federal gun crimes task force found 78 firearms, including rifles illegally altered by shortening their barrels and adding silencers, a pistol with a silencer and an operation for manufacturing illegal silencers, according to a federal criminal complaint.

Carrico had challenged the constitutionality of the search warrant before Kitchen’s arrest and supplemented his argument afterward with questions about the detective’s conduct.

Kitchen has been charged with robbery, battery and attempted sexual assault charges, he is now suspended and free on $150,000 bail pending trial. He has a preliminary hearing on May 5 in Las Vegas Justice Court to determine if there is enough evidence to bind him over for trial.

According to a police report, Kitchen went to the apartment of a woman who works for an escort service about two hours after he testified in federal court on Jan. 22. The woman later told officers Kitchen became “angry and ultimately violent” when told her initial $100 fee was only for “time and company,” and that sex would cost another $150.

Kitchen, who has denied wrongdoing, is alleged to have punched the woman, whose identity has not been made public, twice in the head and to have shoved her to the floor, breaking her wrist. He is also accused of yanking five $100 bills from her bra before leaving the scene. He was arrested the following day.

Federal prosecutors acknowledged the criminal case against Kitchen “does not reflect positively” on him, but contended the evidence sought by the defense has no bearing on the Ward case.

The prosecutors were in court Monday, but did not take a position on whether Koppe should turn over the Kitchen evidence to Ward’s lawyers.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter @JGermanRJ