Clark County judge issues gag order in lawsuit over attorney’s death

A Clark County judge slapped a gag order Thursday on lawyers involved in the civil case over the death of attorney Susan Winters.

“I have very serious concerns about what is going on in this case,” District Judge Linda Bell said.

Bell issued the order from the bench after Richard Schonfeld, a lawyer for Winters’ husband, Gregory “Brent” Dennis, complained about media coverage. The order bars attorneys from discussing key evidence with reporters.

The judge also ordered the lawyers to follow an earlier protective order that keeps the evidence, including sworn depositions, confidential.

Las Vegas Review-Journal lawyer Maggie McLetchie tried to complain, but Bell said she had no standing in the case and told her to file a motion to intervene if she wanted to voice objections.

“(The judge) appears to be concerned about the disclosure of an investigative report and some materials, but an overly broad protective order may be protecting things that shouldn’t be protected,” McLetchie said afterward. “And a gag order completely silencing the litigants and their counsel is way too broad a remedy in the case.”

Schonfeld criticized lawyers for the Winters family in court for providing information to the media that they believe implicates Dennis in his wife’s untimely Jan. 3, 2015, death.

“They have gone on a media campaign to smear my client,” Schonfeld told Bell. “They are putting my client and his two daughters through hell with their media campaign.”

The Clark County coroner’s office concluded that Winters, 48, killed herself by consuming a lethal combination of prescription painkillers and antifreeze at the Henderson home she shared with her husband and their daughters.

But the lawsuit filed by her family cast suspicion on Dennis’ role in her demise.

A Sept. 15 Review-Journal story, based in part on sworn depositions of Dennis and other witnesses in the case, raised questions about whether Winters killed herself.

The story disclosed that Dennis was informed by the district attorney’s office that he is a target of a county grand jury investigation into his wife’s death.

The criminal investigation is the result of efforts by Avis and Danny Winters, who refused to believe that their daughter took her own life. The wealthy Oklahoma couple hired Las Vegas attorneys Anthony Sgro and David Roger to file the lawsuit against their daughter’s husband.

Roger, who served as Clark County district attorney for a decade, prepared a 49-page report with the help of retired FBI agent James Perry that delves into the suspicious circumstances surrounding Winters’ death and the alleged motives of her husband. The report, which was reviewed by the Review-Journal, was given to the district attorney’s office and Henderson police.

The Review-Journal has published other stories since Sept. 15 on Winters’ death, and within the last several weeks a local television station has aired follow-up stories.

Schonfeld has filed court papers seeking to halt the civil case pending the outcome of the criminal investigation, and Sgro has sought a court order, on behalf of the family, to gain control of some $2 million in life insurance and inheritance money Dennis collected after his wife’s death.

Bell set a Dec. 7 hearing on both matters.

In court Thursday she said the gag order on the lawyers was not meant to chill anyone’s First Amendment rights or the media’s access to the case.

“I just want a fair trial,” she said.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4564. Follow @JGermanRJ on Twitter. Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.