Special prosecutor responds to motion

The special prosecutor for the Carson City grand jury said her instructions to jurors were taken out of context.

Terri Steik Roeser took "exception" to an attorney's characterization of a statement she made to grand jurors about filing a report.

"It is rather disingenuous of Mr. (Edwin) Basl to take one sentence out of context without fully apprising this court of the instructions actually given to the special grand jury prior to their deliberations," said Roeser in a reply to Basl's motion.

In Basl's motion, he reminded the court of specific statutory guidelines for filing a grand jury report. Basl represents five Carson City Sheriff's Department officials targeted in a grand jury probe stemming from a petition gathered by resident Ron Weddell.

Roeser said in her reply she agreed with Basl any report submitted by the grand jury must comply with Nevada Revised Statutes; however, Roeser said the grand jury does have the ability to "comment on, criticize and make recommendations to a public officer or agency such as the sheriff himself or the Sheriff's Department."

In addition to the reply, Roeser also filed a motion to endorse attorneys Fred Atcheson and Day Williams as witnesses in the state's case against Deputy District Attorney Anne Langer. Both Atcheson and Williams have represented Weddell.

Langer was indicted June 21 by the grand jury for allegedly attempting to intimidate a witness in a case against Weddell.

The grand jury was formed from a petition circulated by Weddell, a Carson City contractor. Weddell charged officials in the District Attorney's Office and the Sheriff's Department ignored an assault with a deadly weapon charge in 1997 against two brothers, Jaime and John Bustamante.

After Weddell fire four shots in an attempt to place Jaime Bustamante under citizen's arrest, Weddell was arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon. Those charges were later dropped by then-District Judge Michael Fondi. Last week, the Nevada Supreme Court reinstated the charges against Weddell. Weddell plans to appeal that ruling.