Laurel Smith, who is running for the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office, withdrew from a case last month, noting her relationship with the lead investigator, and the defense team in a that case wanted the entire office to be disqualified

Paul Valencia
Clark County Today

A Clark County Superior Court Judge on Wednesday morning dismissed a motion from a defense team requesting to have the entire Clark County Prosecutor’s Office disqualified in a case against its client.

The motion was made in regard to unusual circumstances surrounding the original prosecutor in the case, Laurel Smith, her relationship with a law enforcement officer investigating the case, and the fact that Smith is the presumptive Clark County prosecuting attorney. Smith is running unopposed for that office.

In June, Smith withdrew from being the prosecuting attorney in the state’s case against Steven Michael Ward. Later that month, she acknowledged she was in a relationship with the lead investigator in the case, Sgt. James Dewey of the Vancouver Police Department. Smith noted that the relationship began in June.

Ward’s defense team, led by Vancouver attorney Neil Anderson, said it believes the relationship started sooner than June.

Clark County Superior Court Judge Robert Lewis was not convinced that the timeline would matter. The motion before him, he noted, was not specific to Smith.

“Assume for the sake of argument that she has had a relationship with the officer for some period of time,” the judge said. “I’m still trying to figure out why that’s a basis under our case law for disqualification of the entire office.”

Cord McCabe, a senior deputy prosecuting attorney for Clark County, told the judge that this is a “meritless” motion.

“There is no law to support what Mr. Anderson is asking the court to do,” McCabe said. “She (Smith) did the exact right thing by telling Mr. Anderson that she had a relationship with Sgt. Dewey and screening herself off the case. Everything has been done properly. The state’s request today is for the court to deny this motion because it is meritless both law and fact. We need to proceed with the case.”

Anderson noted that Smith is not just any attorney in the prosecutor’s office. Come January, she is likely to be in charge of the office, which he said brings the possibility of a conflict of interest with everyone who works for her.

“Mr. McCabe is not going to want to displeasure his future boss,” Anderson said.

Later, Anderson continued that argument.

“Mr. McCabe is not going to have a bright future under Miss Smith’s reign if he displeases her,” Anderson said. “He has an interest in his personal advancement in opposing our motion and seeking an outcome that makes his boss happy.”

The judge did not agree.

“I’m not here to decide whether I should disqualify her because she has been removed from the case,” Lewis said.

Lewis also wondered how this situation could justify disqualifying the entire Clark County Prosecutor’s Office.

“As I mentioned, I’m not here to determine whether or not Laurel Smith should be disqualified as being the prosecuting attorney in this case because that motion is not before me. She is no longer covering the case. I’ve been advised she has effectively screened off and won’t be participating in any deliberations in the case,” Lewis said.

He then denied the motion.