Evidence tampering alleged in Gibbons lawsuit

A lawyer representing a former Las Vegas cocktail waitress claims a key piece of evidence in her lawsuit against Gov. Jim Gibbons has been doctored.

Attorney Robert Kossack, who represents plaintiff Chrissy Mazzeo, made the allegation in response to a motion in which the governor's lawyers requested a dismissal of the federal case.

Mazzeo claims Gibbons, who then was a Republican congressman running for governor, battered her on Oct. 13, 2006, in the Howard Hughes Center parking garage.

According to the motion previously filed by Gibbons' lawyers, neither Gibbons nor Mazzeo appear on any of the video footage that was recorded by surveillance cameras in the interior and exterior portions of the parking garage on the night of the alleged incident.

But Kossack claims in his response to the motion that a videotape recorded on the first floor of the garage was altered, despite the contrary opinion of an expert retained by Gibbons. According to Kossack's response, the video shows the same stray cat in two different places at the same time.

"The viewable evidence supports the conclusion that two minutes, eleven seconds of the tape were cut out and the tape re-recorded to add in the time sequence based on the cat Gibbons' expert missed," the lawyer wrote.

Attorney Pat Lundvall, who represents Gibbons, called the allegation "rank speculation" and accused Kossack of using his written response to mount a "character assassination" against the governor and other defendants in the case.

Mazzeo claims she drank cocktails with Gibbons and others at McCormick & Schmick's near Flamingo and Paradise roads. She claims he later assaulted her in the nearby Howard Hughes Center parking garage and then used his influence to cover up the incident.

Political consultant Sig Rogich, the Metropolitan Police Department and then-Sheriff Bill Young also are named as defendants in the case.

In the recent document prepared by Kossack, he claims Young and Rogich had 11 phone conversations on the day after the incident.

"The logical conclusion from the circumstantial evidence is that damage control was in full gear," the lawyer wrote.

Kossack also claims Gibbons received favorable treatment during the investigation.

Attorney Tom Dillard, who represents Young and the Police Department, said Mazzeo has no evidence of a conspiracy involving his clients.

"She testified at deposition that she had absolutely no evidence of any conspiracy involving Bill Young or Metro officers, and nothing in the oversized document filed by her counsel suggests otherwise now," Dillard said.

According to the document filed by Kossack, Mazzeo "tired during her deposition and was unable to recall all the evidence developed by her counsel of a conspiracy among the various defendants to deprive her of her civil rights."

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@ reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.