LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — In an alleged DUI case filled with twists and turns, another twist came Wednesday morning as attorneys argued in Las Vegas Municipal Court about whether the court itself should be kicked off the case.
WATCH | Defense attorney argues Las Vegas Municipal Court should recuse itself in alleged DUI case
On the night of January 9, Derek Myers was pulled over on the 95 freeway by Las Vegas city marshals. They stopped Myers for alleged traffic violations and ended up arresting him on suspicion of DUI.
"I was in jail for 17 hours," Myers told 13 Investigates. He has since sued the city, citing a "Pattern of misconduct" by a "Rogue law enforcement agency" that potentially affects thousands of Las Vegas locals. The federal class-action lawsuit claims marshals arrested Myers illegally--far outside their jurisdiction — which Nevada law limits to the Fremont Street Experience, and real property owned, leased or controlled by the city — like parks and city buildings.
"This is a systemic thing that they’re doing," said Myers. "It’s not just to me."
WATCH | Our investigation begins after Derek Myers reached out to 13 Investigates alleging Las Vegas City Marshals overstepped their authority.
Myers’ case sparked widespread attention, prompting several other lawsuits challenging city marshals' jurisdiction, including one filed by the ACLU.
"It says that there's a serious accountability problem within the marshals office," said ACLU of Nevada Executive Director Athar Haseebullah.
On June 9 — five months after Myers was arrested — the city charged him with misdemeanor reckless driving, no proof of insurance in his rental car, and misdemeanor driving under the influence of a prescription drug.
"It most likely had no effect on his driving," said Chip Siegel, Myers' defense attorney in the criminal case. "Everything that I have seen is consistent with someone who is not in any way abusing anything, someone who was following his doctor's orders, and somebody who is at the end of the day of the use of his medicine."
According to the city's toxicology report, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's forensic lab found 18 nanograms of Clonazepam — an anti-anxiety medication — in Myers' blood, which Myers told officers on the scene that he'd taken about 10 hours earlier before boarding a flight from Ohio to Las Vegas.
"And it's at 18 nanograms per milliliter which is well within therapeutic level," Siegel explained.
He says that's based on a commonly used reference called the Winek table, which places the amount of the drug in Myers' system not just within therapeutic levels, but at the low end. On another reference table Siegel uses, the level doesn't even register.
"I mean, it's somewhere above Flintstones chewables and somewhere below having taken some ibuprofen. It's just a really low level," he said.
Siegel believes the DUI charge won't hold up and wouldn't necessarily have even been filed by a different law enforcement agency.
"I think there's something much bigger that the city marshals care about. They're — seems like — not happy with being called out on being outside of their jurisdiction. This isn't really about a DUI," he said.
Where and how marshals operate is also at the center of Siegel's motion to recuse the entire Municipal Court from hearing Myers' case — which he and the city attorney briefly discussed in court Wednesday morning during a status check on the case.
"The Municipal Court is protected by the City Marshals office," explained Siegel, who, in his motion, points out that marshals serve as the judges' personal bailiffs, entrusted with their safety in court and, if necessary, at their homes. If the case stays in Municipal Court, a judge would be presiding over a case involving the very marshals and agency who protect them and, "Who will — quite literally take a bullet" for them.
"It is what we call the appearance of impropriety — the fact that if anybody in the public looks at it and says, 'that just doesn't smell right, does it?' Making decisions about your own staff," Siegel said.
The case is due back in court on July 14 to determine how it will proceed.
The city attorney sent a statement saying, "Municipal Court has fairly and impartially adjudicated criminal matters involving the Las Vegas Department of Public Safety for decades, and will continue to do so. Thus, this attack on the court’s neutrality is baseless."
We're still waiting to see if the city will comment on the toxicology.