State Supreme Court to Review Maloney Case

Oct 20, 2004 5:45 pm US/Central

A development in the John Maloney murder case.

The State Supreme Court has granted Maloney's Petition to review his case.

John Maloney's Attorney, Lew Wasserman, says Maloney's case is finally getting the review it deserves.

John Maloney was convicted in 1999 of killing his estranged wife and setting her body on fire.

The State Supreme Court has decided to review the decision made by the Court of Appeals in August.

That Court denied Maloney's Appeal...which was based on three arguments.

One argument was that Special Prosecutor...Joe Paulus...violated ethical rules by communicating with John Maloney through an informant while Maloney had an attorney.

That informant was Maloney's girlfriend at the time...Tracy Hellenbrand...She helped police secretly video tape Maloney in Las Vegas.

Attorney Wasserman says it has generally been the Supreme Court which has decided whether an attorney's conduct violates ethical rules.

Lew Wasserman: “And the Supreme Court knows because they're not dummies that during the very time Joe Paulus was prosecuting John Maloney he was accepting bribes and went to prison for those bribes during the very same time period. So, I think they see the nexus there and they want to have the last word. That's good news for John Maloney.”

The State Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments from Maloney's Attorney this spring.

We tried to get reaction on this development from Maloney Special Prosecutor...Vince Biskupic...but he was not available to take our call.