Criminal Prosecution Is War!

Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett is not going to take the investigation into his alleged embezzlement of bad check funds lying down ... he has named Las Vegas attorney C. Conrad Claus ("Law is war") as a special prosecutor to pursue criminal charges against one of the the sheriff's detectives involved with the investigation. From the RJ:

Nye County Manager Richard Osborne said officials are drafting a request to have a district judge appoint an independent prosecutor to review the case against Beckett.

Until then, Osborne said, the county has no intention of recognizing the authority of Claus or any other special prosecutor the district attorney might name.

We wouldn't say that to Claus' face ... the guy has a sword on his website.

The 25 counts filed against the detective stem from alleged actions against Scott Cobel and Ted Holmes, who were candidates for Nye County sheriff, and District Attorney Robert Beckett.

Claus claims that the detective is "looking at the rest of his life in prison" if he is convicted on all the charges - or a no holds barred cage match, whatever he prefers.

As an aside ... what's with the way the papers photographed Claus for this story? Compare the LV Sun photo to RJ photo, above. How long did he stand like that ... gazing off into the distance?

(LVRJ; LV Sun; Thanks, Tipster!)

***UPDATE***

Looks like CCC didn't get to play prosecutor for long. A Nye County JP threw out the complaint against the detective today after he filed a motion to strike the criminal complaint which challenged the legitimacy of Claus’ appointment as a special prosecutor.

(Thanks, Tipster!)