WINNEMUCCA — Judge Michael Montero announced from the bench on Wednesday (May 19) he would not be retrying the 75 cases transferred from Judge Richard Wagner’s court to his as a result of the Nevada Supreme Court’s ruling in Stermitz v Wagner.

Montero commented, “Until the Supreme Court tells me I have to go back and re-do everything … I’m not.”

Only about 18 of the cases have actions pending. Montero announced he would keep the scheduled dates for hearings and trials in place whenever possible. He would, in essence, be picking up where Wagner left off.

In Stermitz v. Wagner the court ruled Wagner had an obligation to recuse himself from cases involving Humboldt County Public Defender Matt Stermitz, due to a dispute between the two men, but once he recused himself he should have taken no further action. The judge had, for about a year, reassigned cases from Stermitz to Pershing County Public Defender Steve Cochran, who acted as conflict counsel.

Conflict counsel are attorneys who take over a case when there’s a conflict with the original attorney.  When cases involving Stermitz came out of Union Township Justice Court to the 6th Judicial District Court - Department 1, Wagner's court, they were reassigned to conflict counsel.

Over the course of the year, Wagner reassigned 75 cases. The NSC voided all actions taken in those cases but gave no further instructions. There was some thought Montero would have to go back to the beginning on each case – raising some thorny legal issues not the least of which was double jeopardy since so many of the cases have been resolved.

The cases have been reassigned back to Stermitz for future proceedings.

Montero met with Stermitz and representatives from the Humboldt County DA’s Office on Wednesday (May 19) to review where each case was and to calendar future proceedings.

Technically, all 75 cases have been transferred back to Stermitz, who raised no objections in court when Montero announced he would not be redoing the 75 cases.