Regan (Quang) v. State

• Court: Nevada Supreme Court
• Decided: April 10, 2013
• Docket: 61847
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

Second, Regan argues that the district court abused its

discretion by denying his motion to disqualify the Clark County District

Attorney's Office because attorney Steven Wolfson, who represented him

when he pleaded guilty, was subsequently appointed District Attorney of

Clark County. On appeal, Regan does not dispute the adequacy of the

screening procedures in place and instead contends that screening itself is

inappropriate because Wolfson's title as District Attorney, as well as his

personal participation in this case, creates a per se appearance of

impropriety. We disagree. While it is true that the district attorney is

responsible for deciding the overall policy of the office, consistent with

NRS 252.070(1), the deputies appointed by the district attorney handle the

day-to-day operations of the divisions of the office and make decisions

regarding specific cases. Further, even though the district attorney's

name appears on every document filed with the court, it is clear that the

district attorney is not personally handling all of the cases filed by the

district attorney's office, and that these cases are instead being handled by

the deputy who is also listed on every document. Having carefully

considered Regan's contention, we conclude that he fails to demonstrate

that the district court abused its discretion by declining to disqualify the

entire district attorney's office. See Collier v. Legakes, 98 Nev. 307, 310,

646 P.2d 1219, 1221 (1982) (noting that disqualification of an entire public

office is only warranted in "extreme cases" where "public trust and

SUPREME COURT OF NEVADA 2 (0) 1947A <

%, .• ' confidence in our criminal justice system could not be maintained without

such action"). Accordingly, we

ORDER the judgment of conviction AFFIRMED. 1

c-g-tt-N J. Hardesty

cc: Hon. Michelle Leavitt, District Judge McDonald Adras LLC Attorney General/Carson City Clark County District Attorney Eighth District Court Clerk

1 We note that the fast track statement contains no citation to the appendix. See NRAP 3C(e)(1)(C). We caution appellant's counsel, Patrick McDonald, that future failure to comply with the Nevada Rules of Appellate Procedure when filing briefs with this court may result in the imposition of sanctions. See NRAP 3C(n).

SUPREME COURT OF NEVADA 3 (0) 1947A

PTA,