Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 18

Friday, June 8, 1979 l-Rfro Evening Gtiette Nevada DAV commander elected Public defender irked: appeals cases dropped vice commander; James D. King, Fallon. Junior vice commander; Clarence R. Skldmore. Carson City, chaplain; and Wilson Ma-kabe, Reno, adjutant.

Fleckensteln, a Navy veterun of World War II. replaces Wayne Olson of North Las Vegas. Other newly elected officers are Bill Morris, Las Vegas, senior Jim Fleckensteln of Carson City has been elected as commander of the Department of Nevada, Disabled American Veterans, for the coming organizational year. Money Market Certificates Too many in his lap lawyer who will take the case for what the client can afford. "We're subsidizing the trial lawyers.

The case doesn't end with the conviction, but it's the taxpayers who are paying for a lot of the appeals from cases tried by the private attorneys. "I'm just raising the question. If the judges ant the taxpayers to pav the bill for the appeals, fine." But Robison said that if a defendant is forced to pay for both the trial and the appellate work or nothing, "then the client is denied the counsel of his own choice and in many, many cases he'll have no choice but the public defender." Ms. Aune's attorney, Michael Anthony, said he doesn't see any savings to taxpayers in McDonald's suggestion because a defendant ho could afford to pay for at least part of his defense would be forced to rely on the public defender for the entire legal procedure. "It's just stupid to do it that way," Anthony said.

"Instead of having a private attorney handle the trial, now people will turn the whole thing over to the public defender. "If he's (McDonald) worried about the taxpayer's money he ought to consider that." quest. Washoe District Judge William Forman, who heard the request, asked Anthony to put It in writing before he decides if the lawyer ill be allowed to withdraw. McDonald said his office intends to argue that a private attorney should be required to handle a criminal case from the time the attorney is hired right through the decision on the direct appeal. But Thursday afternoon, Kent Robison, president of the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association, said his group ill seek court permission to file a so-called "friend of the court" brief.

Robison said the lawyers' code of professional responsibility "does not require an attorney to work for free. If an attorney is going to be expected to do the ap-peafthen the price of a defense is going to go up." McDonald said he believes private attorneys should be required to quote a fee for both the trial work and a subsequent appeal in the event their clients are convicted Then, he said, if the client can't afford the entire fee. the attorney shouldn't take the case. "If there's no business for them, then the price will start to come down." McDonald said, "or the defendant will find some other By JOHN ZAPPE Criminal attorneys are dropping the appeals ball when their convicted clients run out of money, a Washoe deputy public defender claims. Mike McDonald, the attorney who handles appeals for the public defender's office, said Thursday that private lawyers are being hired by criminal defendants to handle their trials but, when the trial Is over and the money runs out, they are shifting the appeal to his office.

"We have six or eight cases that private attorneys have dropped in my lap," McDonald said, noting he is behind in the handling of appeals. Part of the problem in shifting the case from a private attorney to the taxpayer-supported defender's office, McDonald said, is that it's the trial lawyer who best know hat occurred in the criminal trial. The issue came up Thursday-morning after the sentencing of JoAnne Aune, convicted last month of the October 1977 murder of a Whittlesea cab driver. Her attorney. J.

Michael Anthony, sought court permission to withdraw from further proceedings, shifting the appeal of her conviction to the county Public Defender's Office, hich opposed the re $10,000 Minimum Effective June 7 Through June 1 3 current annual rote Federal regulations require a substantial penalty for early withdrawal For complete details visit your nearest office of Valley Bank. Assessing expansion impact asked 15 FD'C expansion plan contains no information on the number of new employees to be added preventing an assessment of the project's housing impact. 'S jr A A county regional planner Thursday called on the City of Reno to assess the "cumulative" impact of hotel-casino expansions now under review. Planner Sheila O'Malley made the request as the city's Major Projects Review Committee considered expansion plans submitted by the Sundowner Hotel-Casino and the Comstock Hotel-Casino. The Sundowner is proposing a nine-story, 162-room hotel tower addition and the Comstock a five-story.

150-room addition. A number of hotel-casino expansion plans are before the city and O'Malley said the Regional Planning Commission, which reviews the projects before they go to the city council, wants a "sense" of the total impact of the proposals. The committee is developing information on how the projects affect traffic, housing, police protection, sewers and other city services. But, O'Malley said, the planning commission also wants to know the "cumulative" impact of the projects. For instance, she said, it would be useful to know-how much sewage treatment capacity would be left by approval of a particular major project Most members of the review committee indicated it would be possible to make overall assessments.

The committee suggested few changes in the Sundowner expansion plan the major one being a recommendation for the designation of 130 spaces in the Sundowiier parking facility to serve the hotel addition. Paul Strickland, president of Reno Citizens for Controlled Growth, read a statement accusing the Sundowner of jockeying plans for the tower addition back and forth between the Reno City Council and the planning commission with few changes. The Reno council rejected the Sundowner plan last April, complaining that Sundowner owner George Karadanis originally asked for and received approval for the tower as office space but intended to use it as hotel space. Karadanis has submitted the hotel tower plan to the planning commission again. It is scheduled for a public hearing in July.

On the Comstock proposal, the review committee determined that it will generate further traffic congestion and is asking for the hotel-casino to donate $15,000 for traffic signal modification. The committee also recommended that 138 parking spaces in the existing Comstock parking facility be used for the hotel tower addition. Susan Powers, the city's community development director, complained that the hotel-casino Optimist's Man of Year J. Burt Williams has been chosen as the Man of the Year by the Optimist Club of Reno for his lifetime of service to Scouting. He will be honored at an Optimist Luncheon.

Williams was born in 1900, became a Boy Scout in 1912 and has remained active in Scouting since then. His 67 years of Scouting activities began in Jamaica, N.Y., and continued in the New York State area until his retirement after 42 years with Consolidated Edison. Upon retirement, Williams moved to Reno wth his wife of more than 50 years, Gertrude. Williams' accomplishments in Scouting include activities commissioner, district commissioner, Washoe County assistant commissioner, scoutmaster and, for the past 12 years. Ml.

Rose round table commissioner. He has earned the highest awards in Scouting, including the Silver Beaver and the Stouter's Key. Umtedlp Kesftote laurgest lme? gives ym tiHne mmt I I IV A A 11 mm. 5earao Bank robbery indictment The most nonstops to Portland to Seattle Leave Arrive l.enve Arrive 6:35 a.m. 7:48 a.m.

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4:55 p.m. 6:08 p.m. 1 7:35 p.m. 9:03 p.m. The Reno federal grand jury Thursday indicted James Leslie Fouchet, 30, on a second count of bank robbery in connection with the April 20 holdup of First National Bank, 4045 S.

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