Nye County prosecutor hearing set

His re-election bid is over, but Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett's legal fight has only just begun.

Beckett is slated to appear June 21 in a Pahrump District Court for a hearing on whether an outside prosecutor should be appointed to pursue criminal charges against him.

The hearing was originally set for today in Tonopah, but it was delayed so a new judge could be assigned.

The matter now will be heard by Senior Judge Robert Estes, who was called in after Nye County's two district judges excused themselves because of potential conflicts of interest.

Estes will consider a request from the Nye County Commission for a court-appointed special prosecutor to review the criminal investigation of Beckett by the Nye County sheriff's office.

Beckett was arrested May 5 in Pahrump and booked on embezzlement and other charges in connection with a bank account his office managed for more than a decade.

He has yet to be formally charged, in large part because no impartial prosecutor has been identified to review the case and determine whether to proceed.

Voters didn't wait to punish Beckett. The longtime district attorney lost his bid for a fifth term Tuesday, finishing last out of five candidates in the Republican primary. His term ends when his replacement is sworn in early next year.

Estes is the second judge from outside Nye County to be assigned to the widening legal mess.

Senior Judge Joseph Bonaventure Sr. was tapped late last month to hear the criminal case Beckett brought against a sheriff's detective involved in his arrest.

Detective David Boruchowitz faces 27 charges, many of them felonies, in connection with what Beckett and his representatives describe as a campaign of politically motivated harassment and intimidation against the county's top prosecutor and two candidates running against Sheriff Tony DeMeo.

The detective has denied any wrongdoing and remains on the job. He had been scheduled for arraignment on June 18, but Bonaventure put the case on hold pending the outcome of the June 21 hearing.

Meanwhile, the County Commission's request for a special prosecutor in the Beckett case has been called into question because it was filed with the court before commissioners voted on it, a possible violation of Nevada's open meeting law.

Commissioners sought to correct their mistake during a special meeting Wednesday when they voted to retroactively approve the request and hire the attorney who wrote it for them.

Beckett's defense attorney, Leslie Stovall, probably will challenge the legality of that move.

He already has lodged an open meeting law complaint with the state over the way the commission's initial request was filed.

Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean @reviewjournal. com or 702-383-0350.